Karey Benitez Villegas
Professor Cohen
Communication in Society
May 19, 2019
Smart Home Gadgets
Smart Home Gadgets changed the world in various ways ever since the 1900s. Besides that, now in the 20th century it has a greater impact since technology is more advanced, we have more gadgets doing things we did not know that can be done with technology. In this era things like a Google home or an Alexa perform tasks with just by saying “Hey Google” or “Alex I need …”. Smart Home gadgets changed the world by helping more the disabled or the elderly people. The way these gadgets benefit them is by doing tasks they cannot perform like watering the lawn or setting up reminders for them to take their medicine. Another way smart home gadgets have changed the world is by now one can turn off the lights straight from their smartphone. For example in this article “Smart Homes Will change Our Way of Life” by Medium, they mention that lights are properly the most obvious example since plenty of people tend to forget to turn off the lights, now technology will help us break deal with bad habits bye either turning off lights remotely or having them set up automatic with sensors and by with that saving energy, reducing our electricity bill and helping us save our environment. Besides lights, smart home gadgets such as security systems, play a huge game changer in changing the world. The typical security system is just cameras that are recording and later seeing the footage at home. Now with having technology very advanced one can control their safety with their phones that can be either having sensors when someone is near the front door at night or watching live footage of your home straight from your phone when being at work or on vacation.
The early 1900s was the start of what we can say “having smart home gadgets” that is beginning with vacuums although they were not considered to be smart, they were successful and the start of toasters, irons, washing machine and a clothes dryer. Although in that time of the 1900s it did not seem so advanced, but it embarked on the start of inspiring people to develop the simple things into more thoroughly and how to change the simple product to becoming a smart product. 1900s was the way to start innovation improving things through the years. Things such as the thermostat invented many years ago now can be purchased with new features having it digital, touched screen, and having an eco-friendly feature or your typical vacuum can now be purchased as a robotic vacuum that vacuums the home by itself, by 2014 10 million Rombas were sold around the world according to “10 Amazing Facts About History of the Smart House” by Build Your Smart Home. Tech companies such as Sony, Samsung, and LG play a factor when it comes to the history of smart home gadgets. These companies are the ones to make smart alarm clocks to smart televisions and enhance daily home items into modern technology. Smart home gadgets have been developing through the years that it was inspiration for a Disney Channel movie called “Smart House”, in the movie a family moves into a house filled with technology hence the name “smart house” the house has a computer system named Pat. Pat starts off by doing the basic getting coffee ready, waking up the kids, making food and little things around the house such as cleaning. As time goes by Pat starts to change since she believes she is now the mom of the house at the end she decides to lock the family in until they tell her she will never be human or a mom, so she deactivates herself.
Smart home gadgets have become the new way of living in this century. The saying “you are a click away from change” has a great connection towards smart home gadgets since it is literally true, with just from our smartphones we are able to operate household chores away from home. Today’s technology advancement has brought many benefits to smart home gadgets. According to “What Are the Benefits of Home Automation?” by SafeWise Team they mention 6 reasons why they are beneficial those being savings, safety, convenience, control, comfort, and peace of mind. The thing with savings is that helps one save money on their electricity bill and saving the environment like for example smart thermostats save energy the same way with smart lightbulbs. When talking about safety they mention that majority of smart home gadgets fall under the category of home security with the help of automated lights to spot burglars and security cameras being able to monitor package deliveries or live footage of their own home. In the article “What Are the Benefits of Home Automation?” for convenience they said “because home automation technology performs rote tasks automatically, end users experience great convenience. Lots of smart gadgets are compatible with one another, and you can set different triggers between devices to automate regular home processes” this can be having your lights turned on when you unlock the front door. Control is the owner having the power to function things at home within their device like their smartphone and knowing what is going on at your home at all times which is the same thing with the article’s reason of peace of mind. In peace in mind is having the security that one is safe with the help of technology. For their reason for comfort they mention that smart home devices are at our service to please us as playing music, controlling the room temperature, light making our living better with the help of the devices.
Although the article “What Are the Benefits of Home Automation?” mentions the majority of the best reasons for why smart home gadgets are beneficial in this new article they mention 3 new reasons. In “The Advantages of a Smart House” written by SFGATE Home Guides they mention accessibility, efficiency and resale as great new reasons why smart home gadgets are great. For accessibility it would be for the elderly and the disable people since they can use voice command systems to do things for them such as locking doors, controlling light, or helping them use a computer, this will be removing them the stress of having the need to perform hard tasks. “The Advantages of a Smart House” they said their reason for efficiency is that “Smart homes offer enhanced energy-efficiency. Lights can shut off automatically when no one is in a room, and the thermostat can be set to let the indoor temperature drop during the day before returning it to a more comfortable level just before residents arrive in the evening. All of these automated tasks, along with modern, energy-efficient appliances, combine to save on electricity, water and natural gas, thereby reducing the strain on natural resources.” Lastly for resale they talk about how a house with smart home gadgets will be able to sell much faster than your typical home since it is more modernized, and the seller can explain to them house the house gadgets can be beneficial to the daily routines by making their life easier.
Having smart gadgets sounds fun and beneficial but sometimes all good things have a downside to them. In the article of “Disadvantages of a Smart Home” by Paul Lin, he talks about reasons for not to rely on smart home gadgets. The first thing is the cost of intelligence, for having the latest tech means higher and expensive maintenance. Those wireless cameras, light sensors, touchscreens and automated systems are not going to be fixed by geek squad, one will need to get professionals who have a specialty in those fields. Another thing for why smart home gadgets would not be beneficial would be for the fact of the technology learning curve. The term “technology learning curve” means that unlike a typical home one who is not modernized with technology will have a difficult time in knowing how to control their smart home gadgets, they will be having to read manuals and learn. Last disadvantage would be the video surveillance. The video surveillance uses wireless technology to connect to servers making surveillance be transferred wirelessly and that can fall into the wrong hands as in getting hacks so one has to make their things are properly protected.
Overall smart home gadgets are been making a change in the word by benefiting us in ways we never imagined they would. For the meantime as technology, education, and medicine advance there will be new smart home gadgets helping us on our daily routines. Things like kitchenware are being enhanced for instance the LG refrigerator that includes a touch screen that has the ability for one to watch tv, news, weather, and even look up recipes. As Dean Kamen says “every once in a while, a new technology, an old problem, and a big idea turn into an innovation” what that it means a small simple product can may one day turn into the next big thing those example being the vacuum a simple product in the 1900s now in the 20th century a self-robot vacuum is now invented.
Work Cited:
“10 Amazing Facts About the History of the Smart Home.” Buildyoursmarthome.co, 26 Nov. 2018, buildyoursmarthome.co/inspiration/10-amazing-facts-history-smart-home/.
Hartman, Dennis. “The Advantages of a Smart House.” Home Guides | SF Gate, 7 Oct. 2016, homeguides.sfgate.com/advantages-smart-house-8670.html.
Hendricks, Drew. “The History of Smart Homes.” IoT Evolution World, 22 Apr. 2014, www.iotevolutionworld.com/m2m/articles/376816-history-smart-homes.htm.
Lin, Paul. “Disadvantages of a Smart Home.” HUNKER, Leaf Group LTD, www.hunker.com/12435186/disadvantages-of-a-smart-home.
“What Are the Benefits of Home Automation?” SafeWise, 9 May 2019, www.safewise.com/faq/home-automation/home-automation-benefits/.