ton of automation and ‘convenience’ being sold is terribly thought out or makes life more complex than not having it.

People burning alive in Teslas because we don’t want those unsightly door handles comes to mind.

I have smart switches, mostly because I’m a tinkerer and build and repair things for fun. I work in IT, so I don’t trust any of this. But the switches work like normal for people not used to it. While I also have a button that turns all the lights off in the whole house at once.

My main automations are basically timers. They turn lights on and off at sunrise/down. And one that turns on my backdoor lights when my garage door opens.

As for cars, I totally agree. Adaptive cruise control is the extent of the smart I want in a car. I’ve had too many false positives where the car will automatically apply the brakes when it didn’t need to. And not once where I was in danger of crashing. Once on a bend in the road where a car was parked on the side and another where an RV had pulled to the side on a turn out to let people pass and the car freaked out because it didn’t realize the road turned.

I’ve also had it nudge the wheel too often when I’m purposely hugging one side of the lane because there is construction or a car on the side of the road.

I think automation in general has been in an awkward stage for a while, maybe analogous to adolescence or puberty. At some point our immediate world will become truly automated, able to sense what we need or want and provide it with very minimal setup and instruction, like a cocoon of personal convenience. Right now it’s more like a 19th century vision of a house of the future with pulleys and wires everywhere - we haven’t gotten rid of the pulleys and wires, we’ve just moved them into apps.

A ton of automation and ‘convenience’ being sold is terribly thought out or makes life more complex than not having it.

Yeah, not EVERYTHING is an internet controlled dishwasher that locks up when updating so no one can hack it.

Smart bulbs are way more work to set up than they are worth for me, a light switch works fine.

Not everything is Philips Hue™®© overcomplicated overpriced nonsense with hubs and accounts and crap. Off brands are much easier. I love being able to just switch the light off from my phone without having to get up, and turn it on without needing to reach for a switch in the dark. Or better, have them turn on automatically at times I’d be needing them. Or have motion controlled lights that only turn on if motion is detected between sunset and sunrise times.

Cruise control is nice, but lane assist drives me nuts with all the false positives.

My electric scooter has that, and I don’t use it, seems too risky especially in an area where people without cars are hated more than literal terrorists.

Generally the overwhelming number of chores comes from just having too many things in the first place.

Not entirely wrong, but everyone manages to overcomplicate the simplest chores possible.

Fewer, simpler operating things are more enjoyable for me than a lot of complex automated things that don’t do what I want them to do.

The best automation solutions are the non-electric ones. It can be as simple as having an easy routine like only scooping cat litter whenever you use the toilet.

I’m glad this is the top comment because lordy have mercy, what is OP on about.

I don’t think i was saved. I was saved.

And it’s not only about subscribe & save, but other solutions. I just feel super alone like everyone wants to have hours of chores instead of making them easier. There are solutions that cost nothing, like having an easy routine or combining a chore with something you do every day. Like, just taking out the trash earlier in the day costs nothing. But family insists on keeping themselves awake waiting until 11:59:59PM to take out the trash which takes hours because one person keeps over-overbuying produce and never using it all. Like, buy less of it, and take out the trash earlier. That SAVES money for fucks sake

Good its not just me.

Thank god my smart phone can spell sanctimonious for me, its made my life so much easier.

I opened the thread thinking, “this has to be a bait post where the op just soapboxes about how much better at life they are than everyone else, and argues with literally everyone offering perspective” and I’m glad to see I was not wrong! Boy if your replies aren’t some of the least self aware, most elitist stuff I’ve seen here so far.

bruh what. I’m just traumatized, not elitist.

I dunno man, why doesn’t everyone with actual problems just ahh, buy an Android phone, learn how to program or do whatever the hell else you think everyone should be doing to just simply live the obviously better life that you have?

That’s ONE solution out of countless. I’m saying anyone can make a solution that works for themselves whether it’s tech based or not.

Oh wait, not everyone has the same opportunities as everyone else, and so not only may these options be unavailable to a lot of people, they may also be completely useless in solving someone’s difficult life.

Everyone has the opportunity to improve their lives. If you’re working and making money then you can make your life exactly the way you want it to be. It takes time and effort, yeah, but it’s not impossible.

You sound like a Tech Bro in their early twenties who landed a sweet job out of college (that they didn’t pay for) and wonders why people choose to be homeless. And before you try to correct me, that’s what you sound like, so unless that’s the persona you wanna give off, maybe try to listen to what people are saying instead of trying to find out how they’re wrong.

Nah I’m a 27 year old who was locked away for 20 years, and I’ve only got to live and experience life for 3 years. I landed a sweet job at ✨ Amazon ✨ I do love technology (well, technology that isn’t stupid) and I think “homeless” should mean primarily renting an apartment. Having zero shelter shouldn’t have a word, it shouldn’t be a thing.

Do you really think people with “difficult lives” are so stressed out because they forgot to take the garbage out multiple times? Seriously? Christ 😂

That was quite literally my family. Or, is. Is my family. Yet they refuse to just… Take out the trash earlier so they don’t need to remember right before they sleep like the countless months of consecutive weeks of forgetting. They complain about having no time for anything but refuse to order online instead of going to two Targets, two Costcos, Bj’s, Walmart, Stop & Shop, Walgreens, Aldi, Lidl, and five international stores in the same day for fifteen hours, back to back Saturday and Sunday, and having to wait until Monday night to sleep. You know, to buy the same things you could buy from Amazon or from those stores as a delivery order. There are other things they can do that they just don’t do, and blame me, the person wanting things to be easier, for ALL of the problems caused by them not wanting to change because God didn’t make lazy people. God STILL didn’t drop a tree on me or kill me with lightning like I demand every day. Stop trying to impress a concept.

They’d still manually go shopping instead of ordering online for literally the same price or a literally trivial higher amount. Like imagine going in person to buy toilet paper for one and a half dollars cheaper than buying online. Like bro you spent more than 1.5 USD in GAS or public transit going there bruh!

I normalized my crazy mother. Seems like everyone isn’t my crazy mother which is a good thing. I don’t wish my childhood on anyone. Imagine having the resources to live a better life and have more experiences, and NEVER getting them, and you’re not allowed to complain. Imagine being the stinky kid, and being unable to NOT be the stinky kid. You know why you’re stinky, but calling out your mother makes you spoiled and entitled.

It costs the same amount as overcomplicated lives. And if you’re saving so much money by living on cup noodles and 4 hours of sleep a week, you wouldn’t have much time to use it.

I’d agree with you but your post is way too long! Uuuuugh! I almost burned a whole calorie writing this reply!

Imagine just not having a vehicle lol imagine spending less than $1000 once and being able to get around oh right that’s horrible we should buy huge metal boxes that require government licenses that cost so much, and fuel that costs oh so much, and complain about not having money. Right, that bitch on a bike is the reason why you have no money, not the fact you spend ten times the amount you accuse young people of spending on Starbucks on an inferior travel method. A developed country is not where the poor have cars, it’s where the rich use public transit.

No, just remembering horrible experiences. I hate that family and that family’s mother more.

Probably because in most cases, doing so requires a tradeoff of some sort. Hardware, design and planning, upkeep, data privacy and reliance on external factors/services etc.

Then don’t rely on external servers and shit. Don’t get cheap unreliable devices. Don’t use a smart speaker. If you want voice controls then buy a burner android and make an app that converts your voice to a string, and passes it to your smart assistant of choice. If you can text Alexa, you could do what I just described. Learn to code if you don’t know how to literally tell a robot what to do.

So when it doesn’t fit together and people don’t even have any real source of help (not to mention enshittification) it should be no wonder that the existing way (or “live with it”) is the only real option.

It’s the most appealing option to people scared of technology who like to victimize themselves over their Hard Life instead of actually making it easier.

Also there is also the angle of some “easier” options that sound nice on paper but end up creating their own problems (or are just too expensive to be viable).

So having no sleep, no time to relax, and the same lack of money is better?

It’s fun having peace of mind though. It’s fun being able to binge movies without suddenly realizing you forgot something important. It’s fun being able to nap without waking up in a cold sweat because you forgot to take out trash for the tenth week in a row. It’s fun being able to forget the time and get immersed in hobbies.

Making the plan in the first place is difficult for a lot of people. Following the plan can be orders of magnitude more difficult, particularly if someone is entrenched in a routine.

Making a plan is effort, but you can make the plan as easy as possible. My plan for home living is to have zero chores throughout the week. Only one day a week I will do chores, and it’ll be 1 hour (2 hours if I have animals). Imagine coming home from work and having absolutely nothing to do, so horrible ugh I should be cooking, cleaning, and grocery shopping until it’s time for me to leave for work. Having time to unwind, shower, and sleep is for tech bros 🙄

My view is that the perceived difficulty of changing your life is greater than the perceived simpleness of the current process.

Maybe there is some brilliant way to automate my most tedious chores. But then I’ve got to spend cognitive power directed at a task I find tedious. It might be easier to do things the way they’ve always been done rather than to think and try out new processes which don’t always work.

Spend cognitive power once. Then “never” do it again. I’m never mopping, vacuuming, grocery shopping, or washing dishes. If I have animals I’m never feeding them, giving water, cleaning waste, grooming, or bathing them. All of that can be automated, so I’m automating it. Am I really going to spend my limited time on earth cleaning up dogshit?

Life is pretty hard though, and you can’t change everything. I don’t know if that means you shouldn’t try, but I understand someone’s desire to keep their head down

You could change a LOT. For starters, you really don’t need to drive to Costco for groceries. You could spend those hours doing something much better for yourself instead of going into traffic to complain about the traffic, walking in a crowded store to complain about the crowded store, wait on a long line to complain about the long line, then load up the car while hopefully not being screamed at by some tiktoker about putting the cart away, then drive home in the same slow traffic that can be lapped by a toddler on a three wheel scooter going up a hill, then unload the groceries for an hour and spend more hours trying to fit it all into the overfilled refrigerator and freezer you didn’t check before leaving, and then finally checking the time to see that you will be late for work if you don’t rush and get dressed and leave in the next twenty minutes. That actually can change, and whatever extra costs are probably as high as the amount you spend on gas, car insurance, Costco membership, anti stress supplements, weed, and impulse purchases made to cope with having to pull all nighters every weekend. You could just, not, pull all nighters for one fucking chore.

I buy all my groceries with Amazon Subscribe and Save. I don’t get a lot of fresh/frozen stuff, and when I do, it’s usually unnecessary things I wanted like ice cream. I’ll gladly ride a scooter to a supermarket for exactly one ice cream quart and nothing else, spending literally 6 minutes including standing on the self checkout line and purchasing.

My light turns off automatically 5 minutes after the time I depart for work, if it’s on at that time.

My fan, heater, and wax warmer are connected to Alexa on my fire TV and phone. The wax warmer is on a smart plug and automatically turns off after 5 hours.

I take out MY trash when leaving for the gym. MY trash is already gathered in one bag, so taking it out and putting in a new bag is just an extra minute. I do this only when leaving for the gym and NOT work, so life is easier. Getting to the gym a minute late is not an issue, getting to the train station a minute late can mean I can’t make it to work. Obviously I don’t leave that late, BUT if I do, I still make it without forgetting to take out trash.

I put my clothes in the washer before getting in the shower, and put it in the dryer before departing for the gym. This way, when I come back from the gym, I can bring my laundry back into my bedroom and hang it up (the most effort). And now I have zero chores to do for the rest of the week, I can work in peace, come home and do nothing (after successfully escaping family who refuses to listen to me)