I Forgot How to Spell "Hygiene"

I feel terrible about how much AI and convenience has taken over my day-to-day life.

Today, I was typing something, and instead of "hygiene," I typed "hyigene." Then I sat there for a while. I knew it didn't look right, but I couldn't recall the correct spelling.

It isn't just this one word. I get many words wrong like this. But today was the day it really hit me.

I'm so used to autocorrect that I've completely lost touch with spelling, and with vocabulary too. Sometimes I wonder if this is linked to my cognitive abilities, and whether I've lost touch with those as well.

But at the same time, I have a parallel thought going on in my mind. Is knowing spellings actually worth it?

I have my thoughts. I know how to pronounce words correctly. So why do I need to know how they're spelled?

The only reasons I can find are other people. The people closest to me might be ashamed that I can't spell. And people who grew up without AI might judge me for it. Apart from that, I see no real reason to learn spellings.

I took my problem straight to Claude, my most loyal cheerleader. This is what it replied (it never lets me down):

"Spelling matters less than it used to. Autocorrect is a tool, like a calculator, and not knowing how to spell "hygiene" doesn't make you less intelligent. Forgetting spellings because you stopped practising them also isn't the same as losing cognitive ability. It's a skill that gets weaker when you don't use it, and it comes back when you do."

I don't know which way of thinking is right. For now, I just hope I don't embarrass myself again.