A WARNING - Not to rely on SmartThings

General Discussion
21

All was good, up until we crossed over the invisible barrier from the electric to the electronic age.
Im being quite serious, when I say we should all abandon the electronic age and go back to strictly mechanical/electric.
Who ever says we Need some of the electronic age for what ever reason, is wrong.
Good bye to internet, hello to book librarys
Good bye to zooms, hello to in person meetings/play
Good bye cell phones, hello to the kitchen phone without radiation beaming into your head.
We have been had, and in a big way.

22

While I appreciate this as a serious position held by some people, and I think there are indeed many advantages in many of the options you suggest, speaking just for myself, the current stuff is much better.

I am quadriparetic. I use a wheelchair and have very limited use of my hands. I canā€™t use a button remote for the television, let alone turn the pages in a paper book. I canā€™t use a light switch. I canā€™t use a conventional telephone.

Before I had voice control of my television, in the morning my housemate would ask me what I wanted to watch that day, turn the TV on to that one channel, and then it would stay there all day. Even though I had helpers who came in, I was afraid to have anyone turn the television off because I had no way to turn it on again myself. And I didnā€™t want to ask other people to keep changing channels. Thereā€™s a limit to how much dependence you can feel before it all feels like too much.

Now, though, I have full voice control of my television. I can turn it on and off, I can change channels, I can search for programs, I can pause, fast forward, and rewind. By myself. Without needing anybody else. Itā€™s hard to explain how significant that is until youā€™ve lived without it for a couple of years.

So while home automation is, I recognize, just a convenience for many people, itā€™s way more than that for me. And if it werenā€™t for all the able-bodied people installing home automation for fun and cost savings, the systems would cost way more than I could ever afford. So win win. :sunglasses:

By all means, if you feel a life without RF technology is better for you, Go for it. I have friends who live that way and are happy doing so. But for me, Iā€™ll take the advanced technology once itā€™s consumer ready. Choice is good.

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