Why This Internet Linguist Uses Android Instead of iOS

‘I don’t know why iOS still doesn’t let you do this.’

This is “What’s on Your Home Screen?” a Q&A column from OneZero. We want to understand more about how people use their smartphones — those life-consuming devices we dump hours into every day — to pave a way toward a better future. Or at least a more reflective one. We’ll add new entries regularly, and each will feature a new interview with a notable person about the apps they use, how they’re organized, and whether those red bubbles drive them nuts.

Gretchen McCulloch is the author of Because Internet, a new book examining how digital tools and online communities are reshaping our language. I wondered if home screens might be counted among those tools.

As it turns out: Kinda sorta! While your home screen itself may not directly influence how you speak to someone else, the default services on your phone certainly do — your keyboard, your apps, your autocorrect settings.

McCulloch and I discussed all of this — and why Android is arguably a better platform than iOS — in a recent conversation marking the release of her book.

What follows is our chat, edited for length and clarity.