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Accidental Tech Podcast

684: It’s Not What Young People Do

Accidental Tech Podcast

Marco Arment

Technology

4.32.5K Ratings

🗓️ 26 March 2026

⏱️ 115 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

I had a terrible cut this week. I cut the tip of my left thumb with a knife. Nice. Oh, I thought you meant like you cut something out of the show last week and you weren't pleased about it. Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. That's not good. Cut something out of his finger and he wasn't pleased with it. Yeah, fair enough. Well, so the problem with cutting the tip of your left thumb is that, well, that's my phone thumb. Like, because I, you know, I'm the left

0:22.0

hand. So, like, already that's my phone thumb. Like,

0:21.2

because I, you know, I'm the left hand. So like, already now using my phone through like, you know, a band-a-capacitive band-aids. Yeah. Well, I mean, it works. It just works terribly. Yeah. And so it's like, first of all, the entire left half of the phone keyboard when typing text on the phone, that is now

0:37.2

horrendous.

0:38.0

And so I mostly just have to use

0:39.0

the other hand.

0:40.3

And then trying to navigate half of the phone keyboard when typing text on the phone, that is now horrendous. And so I mostly

0:38.5

just have to use the other hand. And then trying to navigate the phone because I'm a left-hand

0:43.8

phone user, that left thumb is my dominant phone, like one-hand navigation finger. So that's a mess.

0:51.3

And then I got to my Mac. And that's the command key thumb oh yes that's

0:57.9

I could switch the you know which side is a space bar I don't care about that but that I can deal

1:02.1

with but I can't switch the the side of the command key yeah I would die oh my God I thought

1:08.0

about it I'm just this is it this like I'm like should I'm like, should I go on vacation? I don't know. Like, I just, I can't do anything. Fortunately, I have now downgraded to a thinner bandage as the cut heels. And I'm almost out of this national nightmare. But man, but there is no worse, like, finger too heavy cut than your left thumb when you are a Mac user.

1:29.8

Oh, gracious. That is no fun. Yeah. And I, you know, it's so funny, I'm a pretty good typist. I'm not going to sit here and say, we did the typing test like two or three years ago. I forget which one of us was fastest. But I'm pretty good. I'm no Jason Snow, but I'm pretty good. but you ask me to spacebar with my left thumb or command with my right thumb. I, I'm sorry, gun to my head. I guess I'm going to get shot because I'd be, I'd be doomed. I cannot do it.

1:54.3

I don't think, you know, looking at my keyboard, I'm trying to, like, use muscle memory. I don't think I have ever used my right command key. Yeah, I'm not sure I have

2:02.4

either. Command period, yeah. Oh, yeah. You're right. No, yeah, I guess that's you. Other than that,

2:07.8

though. Yeah. All right, let's do some follow-up. And we have a lot of chatter, as I would expect,

2:15.5

about overcast transcriptions.

2:22.1

And first of all, I'd like to say a thanks to the people who reached out and said that that was a really good episode slash segment.

2:24.4

I'd like to congratulate you, maybe, or thank you, Marco, for doing such a good job

2:28.8

telling that whole story because I was riveted.

2:30.7

You know, there's a lot of times that maybe not as much, John, but certainly I will play up the ignorant card just to move the show along, you know, something that we've talked about a few minutes before to set up, set up a joke or something, you know, and oh, really, tell me more about that. Uh, but this is one of those scenarios where John and I, at least I, I presume John also had no freaking clue that this is where that story was going, which on the one side is a little frustrating because, you know, I want to be along for the ride with my friend, but on the other side made for excellent programming.

...

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