Friend? Or Fact-Checker?

How Google killed the lively art of “chatting”

It’s unpleasant to be around somebody who looks up every single thing you say on their phone to make sure it’s absolutely an correct fact. These days, a simple conversation is interpreted as an oral report or some sort of test. Certain people cannot stop themselves from googling every single thing to prove you wrong, or hopefully themselves right about any tiny little flaw in your thought.

The main thing they want to do is correct you. They want to let you know how wrong you are. Their constant research texting is really saying, “prove it to me.” Their part of this conversation is to disprove everything you say. That is not the social contract I signed up for when I befriended them. I must stop talking to them. They have to be my “text-only” friends because it seems when we’re texting, they won’t fact check. But now that we are back in person, having what we believe to be a harmless chat, they can’t stop Googling.

Even talking about the weather is off limits. I recently said, “It’s going to be over a hundred today so I’m walking my dog early.” A nothing statement during the Before Times. Now, my statement is instantly corrected to, “My phone says it’s only going to be ninety-one.”

Whyyyyy???