There are certain times when you can’t wait to have guests over so that you can show off all of your cool smart home technology. You want to use your phone or tablet to turn on or off a light without getting up, or you want to issue a command to your voice assistant and magically start up your entertainment center. You crave the oohhhhhs and aahhhhs that you know will be coming.
And then there are those other times. Those situations where you are going to use your smart home tech because, of course you are. But you know that your guests aren’t hip to technology, and there aren’t going to be oohhhhhs and aahhhhhs – just a lot of questions. Here are some of the things that I am secretly thinking in those instances, when my non-tech friends and family use my smart technology.
That’s not how you’re supposed to use it. This is something I think constantly when my friends and family use my Amazon Echo. They forget to say the wake word, then complain that it doesn’t work. They confuse a home assistant with a full blown AI bot – and constantly ask it things that it can’t possibly respond to. They also talk to it while other people are talking, or they talk over each other and ask it two things at once. Mass confusion ensues.
That’s not what it’s made for. The other thing that gets me is when they miss the point of what something was made to do. I mean, I’m all for innovation and creative thinking, but sometimes they are just ridiculous. I’m fine when it’s a kid being silly, but when my adult friends, or worse, my parents, start asking if they can do ridiculous things with my smart home tech, I start to reach my limit.
OMG you’re going to break it. It’s not a toy! It’s super advanced, futuristic, Jetsons type stuff I have here! OK, fine, I’m being dramatic, but seriously this technology should be respected. I don’t know if my products are equipped to handle hours of misuse, but I don’t feel like finding out. If you want to play with it so much, get your own.
Just kidding; NO, you definitely should not get one of these. Boy, do I NOT want to spend an entire weekend installing your new technology and then showing you how to use it. Over and over again. Then fielding your phone call and text message questions for the next six months, only to find that you can’t figure out how to use it correctly, so you need me to come uninstall it.
So, that’s my rude, secret, inner thought train. It’s not pretty, and I’m not proud of it, but it feels good to get it out. I do enjoy the chance to educate people about smart technology for the home whenever I can, so these situations typically turn out to be some harmless fun. But there are always those dark thoughts.
What about you? What are you secretly thinking when your smart home technology is being abused?
