<p>Consolation, this happens every time I have dinner with some friends. They think I’m a human calculator because they are amazed I can figure out a 15% tip in my head way faster than they can punch numbers into their phone.</p>
<p>Like I said, people have become way too cavalier about basic arithmetic because “we have calculators on our phones! why do we need to know how to do long division / multiplication?” I see the same disturbing attitude toward spelling (because we have spellcheck). I get that some people have learning disabilities that may it near impossible to do this - I’m not talking about them - I’m talking about capable people who decide NOT to use their skills.</p>
<p>My daughter had terrible spelling. At 2nd grade, she spelled like a 4 year old. I did not say 'Oh, well, there’s spellcheck", which several parents and a teacher said to me. I was appalled by this attitude of not wanting to improve and assuming that a computer can take over. I got her a tutor and she worked with the tutor twice a week for 2 years and then once a week for another 2 years so that her spelling improved to the point people could recognize her groups of letters as words.</p>
<p>It is scary that people are becoming more reliant on machines than themselves. Actually what’s scary is that people are comfortable about becoming more reliant on computers/machines than themselves.</p>