I type fast. Around 130 words per minute on a good day. I assumed voice dictation was for people who couldn't type.

Then I got tendinitis in my right wrist and had to rethink that assumption.

The experiment

I committed to using voice dictation for everything non-code for 30 days. Emails, Slack messages, documentation, meeting notes, this post.

The tool I landed on was dictate.app . It runs on Windows, uses Groq's Whisper model under the hood, and works in every app via push-to-talk. Hold a key, speak, release. The text appears wherever your cursor is.

No cloud subscription lock-in. No browser tab required. $8.99 a month.

Week 1: frustrating

The first week was rough. I kept stopping mid-sentence to think, which tanked my speed. Voice dictation rewards people who can think in complete sentences. I couldn't.

My accuracy was around 92%. That sounds good until you're editing "public static void" into "public static Lloyd" for the fifth time.

I also felt weird talking at my desk. Self-conscious.…