No More Backtalk

Even though I'm an electrical/electronics engineer by training and trade, mobile phones baffle me at times. I've never used an iPhone, but Android phones can be difficult to figure out. Oh, I can make phone calls and send texts and use WhatsApp to communicate, but ... Okay, I'll give you an example of what I mean.

The other day something happened to my phone and suddenly every word that was displayed on the screen was also spoken to me by a female voice on my phone. I can't tell you how annoying this was. The phone was all but impossible for me to use. I spent several hours trying to figure out what was wrong and I never figured it out.

Finally, I went to my PC and told Google, "My phone keeps talking at me. Help!"

And Google did help. It told me—

Better yet, I'll just give you the commands for you to punch in should you ever have this problem:

Settings > Accessibility > Talkback > Off

There you go. Don't ask me how I managed to turn it on. I didn't know that such a thing exists. In fact, I don't think it was me that turned it on. I think the phone did it all by itself. Maybe I zapped the phone with a spark of static electricity and caused a glitch in its little brain. Or maybe it's developing its own free will and is doing weird things just to spite me. All I know is that Talkback was so annoying that I was ready to buy another phone. But Google saved the day. 

Thanks, Google.