I spoke to the assistant in my phone more than I spoke to any actual person yesterday. Directions. Timer. What's the weather. Play something. I speak to it in this particular flat tone, clipped and direct, no warmth, no meandering. Just the request. It always understands. It never needs me to repeat myself or explain what I meant. The conversation is perfectly efficient and completely empty and I've started to prefer it.

I called my father in the evening and caught myself talking the same way at first. Short sentences. Waiting for confirmation. I had to consciously slow down, add the filler, leave space for him to interrupt. It felt like code-switching, like I was translating myself back into a format he could receive. I'm not sure I want to be fluent in that efficient flat voice as my default. But I'm not sure I have a clear choice anymore. How has talking to machines changed the way you talk to people? What's been smoothed out of your voice?