It's Me, Hi, I'm the Problem It's Me

For several years now, when I write a text, my keyboard on my phone will switch midway through from letters to numbers. For instance, instead of the word “At” it will say “A5”. It was really quite infuriating and made sending texts or emails from my phone much less efficient.

I assumed there was something wrong with the phone. On multiple occasions I called the help desk or went physically into the Genius Bar. But nothing worked. The problem even continued after I upgraded my phone last year. Once again, I called for help and nothing they suggested worked.

For some reason one day last week I was fed up. I had had it with constantly messing up my texts. I had hit rock bottom. I scheduled a visit to the Genius Bar and told the employee my whole sad story. He then asked me to type into a phone they had on display—a phone that was not mine. And, lo and behold, the keyboard eventually switched to the numbers keys and I started typing numbers. We both looked at each other as I said “Oh no! It’s me! I’m the problem, it’s me” (he didn't laugh, I guess he’s not a Taylor Swift fan, but was a really nice guy despite that).

When he watched me type on the phone he noticed that the palm of my hand accidentally knocked the numbers key on occasion— therein lies the problem. It was not the phone. It was the way I was typing on the keyboard.

How did I not figure that out after years of trying to figure out what was wrong? I guess when I think about it, I didn’t really try. I had convinced myself that it was the phone’s fault so I didn’t pay attention to anything I was doing. I simply kept going back to Apple for help. I couldn't get out of my own way.

How often do we get stuck thinking one way? My Genius guy didn’t know how to break it to me that I was the problem, but by demonstrating that I did the same thing on a different phone, I could no longer avoid the truth. I had to face facts. I felt silly and embarrassed, but honestly I mostly felt relief. If it was something I was doing wrong, I could fix it. I didn’t have to keep going back to Apple. The good thing about being the problem is that you can also be the solution.