The Technological Housewife
As stated by Melissa Gregg “digital platforms offer a system for interchangeable tasks and a simulated management function that offsets the need to identify work limits” (Gregg, 2018, p.5). This contributes to the household being a workplace through the utility of digital platforms and assistants such as Alexa, Google Home, Uber Eats Delivery or Instacart Delivery, where we are able to keep our routine, tasks and "progress predictable, even when the workday isn’t” (Gregg, 2018, p.5). Due to how while working from home, these productive technological advances act as the efficient housewife that runs the household, by completing chores, responsibilities, tasks and routines. In class examples that were talked about included a security system app and Google Home, where both were able to simply and conveniently provide information and complete tasks.
Relating to outside examples, below is a Samsung Smart things commercial, which highlights how Samsung has become the technological housewife, that makes “life like never before” (Samsung Smartthings, 2015, 1:46-1:48).
Furthermore, below is an example from Tiktok of how an individual working from home, uses their “i Kettle” to their advantage to complete the household task of brewing the kettle.
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMLFgYDqA/
Gregg, M. (2018). Counterproductive: Time Management in the Knowledge Economy. Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478002390
TIZEN. (2018, July 9). Samsung SmartThings [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4VbJ6Rju8g
@thelifebath. (2021, May 19). Who wants to see other ways I have turned my house into a smart home [video]. Tiktok. https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMLFgYDqA/
Hello Julia! I found the two videos very interesting, it felt so futuristic. It seems like we no longer need to do the things we had to do in the home, and even the most basic things are being automated, like boiling water. It makes me curious to think how far it can go. Maybe one day the fridge will be able to prepare food on its own so we no longer have to cook meals ourselves.
ReplyDeleteFor your first question. I don't really use a lot of digital assistances, or maybe I just don't consider them assistance and just a normal part of life. I think the most common one I use is the face recognition on my phone. It certainly makes opening it much easier, but it feels like the same thing as previous versions when I could open it with just my fingerprint.
For the TikTok video, I would buy the product if it could fill water as well, but since it can't. I'll just wait.
Hi Julia,
ReplyDeleteAfter watching Samsungs smart home technology, I find it to be disturbing. Instead of promoting a certain device of its capabilites, it is promoting the idea of being subordinate to technolgy, to rely on not having to do anything which I find takes away from the human experience. I personally do not have any smart tech in my house because I find it expensive and I find it to be unreliable. I also believe it is another way for the right to privacy to be invaded. Much like how our data is already tracked through the use of Instagram and TickTok, I would imagine that some devices and future technologies will only continue to go down this road in order to be "innovative." There tends to be a lot of overreach now by tech companies in order to prove who has more data or is more efficent over one another without thinking of the lasting consequences it has socially or culturally.
In response to the second question, I would not purchase the product. Again, I dont find the need as I rather be 100% in control of something I am doing instead of relying on something. While my personal views may be outdated, there needs to be a balance as technology is a disruptor to society in positive and negative ways. From a capitalistic view, technology is amazing. In a cultural view, it is negative because it condems one way nodes of thinking and people must adapt or be left behind. With Smart tech gadgets, I feel that the more we rely on said technologies, the more we lose sight of what it means to be human.
In the following article, it summarizes that there is no scientific evidence to prove our cognitive abilites are harmed by smart tech. However, it is an interesting read and I would argue that in the future that it may not harm our cognitive abilites completley, but parts such as being lazy.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/07/210702154317.htm
Overall, Smart tech in the home is a great invention, but it really has not changed anything in my perspective. It only consumes more of our attention and causes more to heavily rely on its abilities and promoting the idea we can sit around and do nothing.
Hi Julia! Great post,
ReplyDeleteI found both videos to be very interesting as I had not watched either one prior. The Samsung video I found to be almost unrealistic as I had not thought that a house and system would be able to achieve all of these tasks basically through an app. The video reminded me of something we may see in the future or something advertised in tv and film, since the system is able to complete so many different tasks it almost seems like there is a fault somewhere waiting to happen. As the only tech appliances, I use as seen within the video is the Telus system app (my parents just got it) and the capabilities that it has. The app itself allows you to lock and unlock any of the doors in your house via a click of a button, which I found to be really interesting but also scary. A second system is the Wiz app which allows the user to use a certain light bulb that is then connected to the app through Bluetooth and you are capable of changing the colour, themes, or tones of the light to virtually anything you could want. Lastly, I use my iPhone's Siri feature almost daily which in itself I never really consider how invasive the technology is because I find it to be useful but the ideas presented by Gregg were interesting. I think ultimately these technologies, the ones presented in the video and the ones I use are technologies of concern, as they are so capable of doing such basic human things that soon (or even now, as seen in the Samsung commercial) are going to do every single thing for us as humans. To answer your second question, I think I would buy the iKettle because I do boil water a lot for coffee and tea and to me this does not seem like an invasive or potentially dangerous technology like in the Samsung video. I see this product as being innovation and motivating as opposed to concerning.
With this being said, I see most of these smart home and advanced tech inventions to be areas of motivation and innovation as many are designed to make ones way of life easier and more efficient, however I do believe that as they technologies continue to advance they will becomes areas of concern as many in home safety tech features (like Nest) are already invoking issues in users homes.
- Claire
DeleteAll new technologies are marketed to appear as tools of convenience that were produced to assist us in our day to day tasks. In the tiktok video, the publisher explains the Ikettle in that very same way. She says that by having the Ikettle she has more time to complete other tasks around the house, saving her from having to go downstairs to actually boil the water herself. The funny thing about these tools are that once upon a time the stove top was marketed just the same. The stove was a "convenient" way to boil water as prior to that they would have to make a fire. Technologies like this are taking "tools of convenience" to a whole new level as the tiktok states you "dont have to walk downstairs".
ReplyDeleteTo answer the question, no. I personally do not think this is a necessary product and i would not purchase.
Hi Julia,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your post as well as the examples you brought up. The comparison of these new digital advances to being similar to a "technological housewife" is very accurate. It is now as if these technologies are taking a role of an actual human in the home. In my opinion, it is almost a little bit scary because we are going from appliances that are meant to assist and help, to appliances that now do more than assist and actually do tasks in place of us and essentially live for us. To answer your first question I would say the digital assistance platform I use the most is the mini google home. I did not actually purchase this device but I got it as a gift and I most likely would not have purchased it on my own to be honest because I don't think it is really a necessity. I mainly use this technology for simple things like checking the weather, the time and setting an alarm. But as I said before I don't think it is really a necessity, I can easily do the tasks I listed on my own but the device does make it a little bit easier. However, I still do think it is more concerning than motivating because it makes me wonder how dependent we as humans will become on devices like these to live out our own lives for us to an extent.
As for your second question, I personally would not purchase the product. I do definitely think it is very cool and would most likely be very helpful in the home but I don't think I'm in a place to use my disposable income on a product like this that is not very necessary for me, but if I did have a large amount of disposable income I could see myself maybe buying it.