Register to receive the Future Tense newsletter on Saturdays.Future Tense has been my editor for over a decade. It's a long time to live and dream in the future.Part of me remains stuck in the past. I am passionately committed to Microsoft Word. Google Docs, which has existed in many forms since 2006 and has grown to be an unstoppable force over recent years, is what I view as a personal insult. Although Word is cumbersome and costly and all that, it is also beautiful in many ways. The track changes function, which is customizable and intuitive, is fantastic, even if it takes some getting used to. I am familiar with its features and quirks, so I can help troubleshoot problems. Just by looking at a Word document, my brain tells me: It's time to get to work.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementI'm not saying Google Docs are useless. But it is mostly useful. Some use cases are good, such as planning documents. It is great for packing lists, grocery lists, and tracking expenses. However, when it comes down to editing articles for SlateGoogle Docs fails completely. Google Docs is all about the small things. If I delete a lot of text and then begin writing over it, Google Docs marks those words as deleted text. What's the point? Why would I enter text in Google Docs to delete it from? It adds a hyperlink to every space between words, which is horrible. It places all the changes in bubbles to the side instead of in line. This takes up too much space, and you will rarely see both the change and the modified text at the same latitude. It is difficult to accept multiple changes at once. I find myself stuck with one. A. A. Time. Like. A. Sucker.AdvertisementWorst of all, collaboration allows multiple people to work on a single document, a feature that is most popularized by Google Docs partisans. Google automatically notifies the writer who sends me a Google Doc and I begin editing it. I can see their initials in the upper right-hand corners of the document and know that they are watching me. Editing in front of an audience is not something I can do. I have to change things, and try out different phrases. Sometimes, writers respond to my edits right away. It's a shame! Let me be alone! Only one person per document! Clear iterations are what I seek, not multiple versions that merge into each other.AdvertisementAdvertisementThere are many ways to get around these problems. Sometimes, I will create a new document to ensure that the writer does not get an alert. Sometimes, I will tell them to stay out until I tell them Im ready. Most of the time I just download it as Word documents and then edit in my old familiar home where everything makes sense. This will undoubtedly cause formatting problems in the document. However, that is a problem I have to solve, and not the writer.It is clear that I am losing the battle. This was evident in a piece I published almost three years ago, Journalists Just Can't Quit Microsoft Word. However, some are trying. A recent colleague of mine at Slate was horrified to learn that Word is still the preferred format for most people. Even some Word defenders are beginning to give way to Google Docs.AdvertisementGoogle Docs is a great idea. It is also free. This is huge, especially for freelance journalists. Other people who aren't as performance-conscious as me don't mind editing a document even if the writer is watching or even dipping in. My colleague swears she prefers Google Docs suggestions mode over Words track changes. I am not sure how that could be possible. Word is a great tool, but Word is a hated tool by everyone. Google Docs is the future. Word is the past. This sea change has made me see myself as a person who thinks about future for a living slipping into the past. This reminds me of an article my ex-colleague Will Oremus wrote in 2015 for Slate: Is Snapchat Really Confusing or Am I Just Old?AdvertisementAdvertisementIm just old. Google Docs partisans may see another Google Docs alternative and will feel irritated about any new word processors. Google Docs users and I can agree that there is no good reason to use Apple Pages.Its Future Tense Fiction day! You can read a new short story by Justina Ireland, called Collateral Damage. Also, here are some articles from the past of Future Tense.Vinay Prasad and Kerrington Powell The U.S. Governments Noble Lyings About COVID-19Stephen Harrison: How to Use Wikipedia While Watching the OlympicsMatthew Lewis When will it get too hot for the body to survive?Kyle W. Davis New Type of Embryo Genetics Screening Offers Big Promises Despite Little EvidenceThis is Wish WedThe Jessica Simulation: Love in the Age of A.I. by Jason Fagone, San Francisco ChronicleFuture Tense RecommendationsWBUR-Reddit's podcast Endless Thread can be light. It explores why a huge pile of plates appears in Pennsylvania, which industry buys the most glitter and a wild tale about horse semen-stealing within the modern-day jousting world. It ran a series of five episodes called Madness last year. This series examined mind-control experiments that were conducted in Canada under the CIA's MK Ultra program. Madness is a human-centered examination of the use and misuse of technology in psychiatry. Bioethics, consent and other areas. Although it is a difficult listen, it is worth the effort. The first episode can be found here.What's Next? TBDThis week's episode of Slates technology podcast features Lizzie OLeary talking to Vices Jason Koebler on the Biden administration's support for the right to fix our own gadgets. Lizzie spoke with John Scott Railton, a senior researcher at Citizen Lab at University of Toronto about the NSO Group, and the rise of mercenary spyware dictators love.Future Tense is a collaboration between Slate, New America and Arizona State University. It examines emerging technologies and public policy.
