great piece! If women allow so-called more techie men to take over the household it can become another form of disempowerment or gender erasure. The trend discussed here is only just starting, but the implications are pervasive and dangerous. Its easy for a man to learn to deal with women's domestic machinery, washing machine, dishwasher etc. Low techie stuff. But dealing with the electronic home is a more complicated take-over. Warning: sophisticated smart homes may be dangerous to women's well-being. Not to mention the fact, as Allison points out, that many of these woofers and tweeters (to use the buzzword from macho chatter about stereo systems) are closer to gaming than domestic time savers or improvements. Here's an example: My brother has a pool which he generously offers to children and grandchildren to use whenever they want. But only he controls the heating through his phone. So while in theory anyone can use the pool, in practice he MUST be contacted----wherever he is-- and he alone sets the thermostat and other features. He has total control.
Allison, are you in my home??? This is a source of constant debate. My husband welcomes our robot overlords and I'm much more sceptical. I do, however, like our IKEA smart lights as both my son and I need light in the morning to wake up, which in Scotland, is not guaranteed. He's programmed it so our little lights next to our beds go off about 20 minutes before the alarm, to ease us into the world more gently. His goal is to replace all the lights in the house so he can switch them all off at once, which I can see from a powersaving perspective, but eh...
I like Alexa only because my son can say "Alexa, call Papa!" and connect directly with my parents, without me as an intermediary. On the kitchen counter, it seems to facilitate more regular contact, and feels like they are joining us for meals from Portugal.
I find the time required to research, purchase, and maintain all these things annoying though. If you want to fiddle with technology, go put a load of laundry in :)
great piece! If women allow so-called more techie men to take over the household it can become another form of disempowerment or gender erasure. The trend discussed here is only just starting, but the implications are pervasive and dangerous. Its easy for a man to learn to deal with women's domestic machinery, washing machine, dishwasher etc. Low techie stuff. But dealing with the electronic home is a more complicated take-over. Warning: sophisticated smart homes may be dangerous to women's well-being. Not to mention the fact, as Allison points out, that many of these woofers and tweeters (to use the buzzword from macho chatter about stereo systems) are closer to gaming than domestic time savers or improvements. Here's an example: My brother has a pool which he generously offers to children and grandchildren to use whenever they want. But only he controls the heating through his phone. So while in theory anyone can use the pool, in practice he MUST be contacted----wherever he is-- and he alone sets the thermostat and other features. He has total control.
Allison, are you in my home??? This is a source of constant debate. My husband welcomes our robot overlords and I'm much more sceptical. I do, however, like our IKEA smart lights as both my son and I need light in the morning to wake up, which in Scotland, is not guaranteed. He's programmed it so our little lights next to our beds go off about 20 minutes before the alarm, to ease us into the world more gently. His goal is to replace all the lights in the house so he can switch them all off at once, which I can see from a powersaving perspective, but eh...
I like Alexa only because my son can say "Alexa, call Papa!" and connect directly with my parents, without me as an intermediary. On the kitchen counter, it seems to facilitate more regular contact, and feels like they are joining us for meals from Portugal.
I find the time required to research, purchase, and maintain all these things annoying though. If you want to fiddle with technology, go put a load of laundry in :)