The world is becoming inherently electronic. Everything we once had to manually operate is becoming more easily accessible, such as television now having remote controls and voice operating systems for people who don’t want to leave their couches. This may not always be a good thing. In the article by the New York Times Thermostats, Locks and Lights: Digital Tools of Domestic Abuse, it states “Connected home devices have increasingly cropped up in domestic abuse cases over the past year, according to those working with victims of domestic violence. Those at help lines said more people were calling in the last 12 months about losing control of Wi-Fi-enabled doors, speakers, thermostats, lights and cameras. Lawyers also said they were wrangling with how to add language to restraining orders to cover smart home technology. Muneerah Budhwani, who takes calls at the National Domestic Violence Hotline, said she started hearing stories about smart homes in abuse situations last winter. ‘Callers have said the abusers were monitoring and controlling them remotely through the smart home appliances and the smart home system,’ she said.” In other words, many of these appliances are not only becoming accessible for those who need them but those with malicious and controlling intent. Abusive people now have an easier way of ensuring they can control their target in ways that are not as straightforward as seen before throughout history.
This isn’t, however, to take away from the benefits of technological enhancement. In Why Things Matter, the author addresses “blogjects” and how they’re objects that blog. Of course, it is possible they could overtake what people do in a way and eliminate human bloggers almost entirely. But it is also fairly possible to use these amazing technologies to our benefit. A great example provided by the article is “the Pigeon that Blogs” project. ” It’s a pigeon, or more precisely, a flock of pigeons that are equipped with some telematics to communicate on the Internet wirelessly, a GPS device for tracing where its been flying, and an environmental sensor that records the levels of toxins and pollutants in the air through which they fly.” This is a greatly beneficial aspect of this technology that hasn’t been used before this period in history. Despite the dangers, there are also good things to happen with implementing technology into every day objects; it’s just about who uses them.