To just want to use a fucking light switch

She’s got a mixture devices thanks. But it wasn’t so much about my mom as such, more about answering the poster who says these devices are only for the lazy.

Ya don't need to go smart for that

Fob

We have ours mostly automated on hive ... light comes on at a certain time or comes on when you open door. I think it's great, no dirty marks on walls.

Because they don't want to use the switch. If Alexa is being funny you just flick the switch off to turn the light off, or off then on to turn the light on.

Alexa controls the bulb, not the switch, so you can still use the switch then leave it "on" again if you want Alexa to take over. For example, sometimes when I'm leaving my bedroom I just flick the switch off instead of standing by the door calling across the room to the echo. I then flick the switch on again when I'm getting ready for bed, and then use Alexa to turn it (the bulb) off when I'm in bed.

It can all be done via the Alexa app too. You can touch the devices you want to control, or talk your command to your phone (Alexa doesn't speak back), or you can type your command out with the keypad. It's not as difficult as people are making it out to be.

(I have Android Auto in my car too so I can even tell my car to turn the porch light and hall light on for me when I get home so I don't have to let myself in in the dark.)

"So why are there posters saying they get stuck with the lights on and have to get someone else to do the voice commands etc"

Because some people have no neutral in the switch on the wall so there are less options so they buy smart bulbs instead of smart switches.

These are always powered and can be turned on and off by Alexa.

If you turn the switch off they won't have any power until you turn the physical switch back on.

So why are there posters saying they get stuck with the lights on and have to get someone else to do the voice commands etc. I can kind of see why it might be useful (especially if you like all those faffy lamps instead of just having the normal light on) but people seem to be suggesting it's Alexa or nothing if you install it all and that the normal switch stops working.

You can set Alexa to whisper mode. It will detect the volume of your voice and reply at the same level.

I prefer 'Let there be light'.

I don't think that having smart lights would result in the Russians and Chinese listening to me in my living room. But the general technological enshittification trend that has been noticeable in the last few years - normal purchase products being replaced by subscriptions and apps, all requiring installations and dozens of passwords - makes me feel quite strongly that I don't want to introduce complicated systems for things that are really quite simple.

As for the horse/car analogy upthread: horses are large dangerous panicky animals which are largely useless for their first three years of life, require huge amounts of food and straw, produce manure which used to cover the streets, and are basically a massive amount of work. Even disposing of dead horses used to be a nightmare for pre-car cities. I don't think it's quite the same as "pressing a light switch," frankly.

Yes. It doesn't stop being a switch. You just can't change the brightness or colour via the switch.

I am totally resisting smart anything when it comes to tech. It’s not like using a light switch is a worldwide problem for people!

Also I’d worry about waking the house, I stay up late, way past DH and 2DC and I don’t think they’d appreciate “Alexa turn the lights off” at 2am 🤣 my DC didn’t sleep as babies, DD especially, and I remember telling DH not to turn off the hall light as she was such a light sleeper I was convinced that the noise of the flicked switch would wake her in the next room

Can you still use the light switches manually in case there's a problem with Alexa or your device?

Are you really comparing the horse and cart vs a car to this?

It's not a useful analogy in any way.

Using smart bulbs, no.

Using a switch is not just about turning the light on and off?

🥴

It's amusing. I bet the majority of the people saying "I don't see the point, using the switch is so simple" use the remote to turn their TVs on and off, and unlock their car doors with the fob rather than the key.

People who think it is just about turning the big light on and off have no imagination.

I think this is one of the reasons we need so many lights, especially in the lounge and kitchen! I have found brighter bulbs recently. They still don’t seem quite as good as I remember lights being, but that may be age. It’s been a long time since I had incandescents everywhere!

Well of course, everyone should do what works for them. I’m very much an early adopter and enjoy trying new things, keeps me interested in what’s happening and is good for the brain. I don’t think the technology is up to scratch for people who don’t enjoy that challenge yet and very much understand OP’s frustration with voice recognition.

It’s all very much an experiment, and while not everything works out, some do. I don’t tend to throw out the old until I realise I haven’t used it years.

I have a kindle but prefer reading paper books at home - especially in bed. However, the ease of being able to take a dozen books on vacation without worrying about the weight or, with recipes, of being able to look something up in the supermarket as well as at work or on the train (and finally in the kitchen!) when I suddenly realise I’m cooking tonight and don’t have anything planned is a boon over only having paper books.

I have a CD player but haven’t used it a long time (probably should get rid of it, along with my iPod!) because having to find a track is much harder when you need to look through a hundred CDs, especially if you can’t quite remember who it’s by!

My DVD player and a stack of DVDs also sit idly in the cabinet because streaming makes it far simpler to watch what I want. And no need for 15 remotes, it’s all done through Chromecast. I have way fewer remotes, switches and other interfaces that I have to interact with now than I did before I automated and no turning the sofa upside to find the one that slipped all the way down the back!

With the way technology is going I’m much more concerned about ownership of media and the switch to subscription models for seemingly everything than I am about having to adapt to a new interface.

I would never have them by choice. Using a switch is so simple. Complicating the simple is just going to bring issues.

This! We have heating, lights, alarm and security cameras (I know DH has these isolated for security but haven’t a bogs notion how it’s set up) all able to be operated from Alexa. It means I can set the heating when out, set a light routine on holidays, see the whole exterior of my house from my phone.

The fact my house has 6 smartphones, 4 smart TVs, 5 tablets and numerous other smart devices or stuff connected to wifi negates the security worry for me. And if someone fancies hacking into my lightbulb to hear the riveting conversation that occurs daily in my house more power to them

You could just buy smart switches best of both worlds.

I just miss the days when lightbulbs actually emitted light. Ok, so they last for years now but it's years of murk.

Same. I can't imagine anyone being bored enough to be interested in my light and bathroom fan usage.

I always think this about "smart" stuff and try to keep everything dumb in my house. As well, I try to have things that aren't battery operated, if a manual version is available. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

I bought a robot vacuum and had to concede it wasn’t right for me. I didn’t even open the box before returning. As I looked around at the cat toys strewn all over the floor I realized that it was just never going to be the ‘set and forget’ that I hoped it would be… sigh maybe one day.