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Comment by Jim_Heckler | Hacker News Reader

"One strategy I've developed to make voice-to-text seem less odd to bystanders is to talk into my phone up to my ear as if I were on a call (rather than talking into it like a microphone as most people do with voice-to-text)."

Wow this is brilliant, and I can't believe this wasn't obvious to me when I've considered voice typing but felt weird about it.

I just got a Note 9 and I love that I can pull out the pen while the screen's off, jot a note and put the pen away without having to unlock my phone. And in the app it can be OCR'd for searching, editing etc. I'm sure once I get into the habit of using this I'll be forgetting ideas less.

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If you're worried about bystanders, talking to your phone is always going to be weird...

The actual solution is to not give a shit what others think about what makes you productive.

It works quite well - though I disagree with his reluctance to hold it up to the mouth like a mic (speaking only) rather than up to your cheek like a phone (speaking and listening). It's usually More comfortable to me. Maybe we are just doing it in different contexts.

Either way, making it immediately obvious you're talking into a device gives the implicit signal "I'm talking, but not to you" so you don't have to do any further signaling, which is usually less clear anyway (head shake, etc.)

People will now advocate constantly holding up a device irradiating heat as close to your skull and brain as possible for long periods of intense thinking (which already stress and heat up the brain, naturally). I get headaches within minutes of long or intense phone calls. Voice control looks more like a joke and less like cool future as it becomes concrete. Said this before, but I just like vim better.

I told my coworkers that they gonna hear me talk to myself time to time. Im using Jota text editor on android + handsfree earphone to add todo tasks, notes, ideas and so on. It was odd in the beginning.

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