Typing on IM - Cognitive Analysis

[gusl]

I am usually a very good speller. But as I started using IM a lot, I started getting sloppier: actually, it's like my hands are typing independent of me. So we can see at least three parallel modules in my brain: one spitting out ideas, one spitting out words and one spelling them. When I am too focused on the ideas, the spelling process becomes automated (done unconsciously) in order to keep up, so the spelling suffers.
An interesting consequence is that now that I'm learning Dutch, I'll sometimes type Dutch words and patterns with similar sounds, such as "de" for "the" or "oo" instead of "o".

But my name is probably my strongest unconscious automatic interference: when I type any word starting with "gus", I will almost automatically type "Gustavo".