My husband keeps turning off my Alexa

[HalleBre]

I have an Alexa in the bedroom. I use it for my alarm and to play music.

My husband keeps turning it off without telling me because he thinks it's "listening to us."

I've agreed to not having one in any other room. But, I enjoy having it in the bedroom and sometimes rely on it to wake me up in the morning.

Every time I speak to it, it's been turned off.

Aibu to be pissed off??

My ex used to do that. He didn't even live in the house but would turn the Alexas/smart plugs 9ff when he stayed. He also hated me using the "announcement" and "drop in" features. Apparently shouting up the stairs at the DC was better.

My husband keeps turning it off without telling me because he thinks it's "listening to us

It does but so does his smartphone. Is he paranoid about it too?

@HalleBre

He's a prepper and believes the government is corrupt that there will be a nuclear war. He has bought gas masks and years worth of long life food. Maybe that's skewing my view 😢

The royal family are reptiles ?

Honestly that would piss me off why does his right to paranoia trump your rights? Change the settings in alexa to forget whatvsge hears and your fine

If he takes his smart phone to bed then he can't complain about an alexa listening to you. Your smart phone listens to everything too.

Alexa is only listening for the wake word, it isn’t actively recording everything you say. There is definitely more to be gleamed from peoples smartphone use / internet searches

@HalleBre

He's a prepper and believes the government is corrupt that there will be a nuclear war. He has bought gas masks and years worth of long life food. Maybe that's skewing my view 😢

I think it’s skewering his view.

@HalleBre

He's a prepper and believes the government is corrupt that there will be a nuclear war. He has bought gas masks and years worth of long life food. Maybe that's skewing my view 😢

Well, he is right in at least one of two things. Yabu and naive.

They do listen to you. That's the whole point of them.
The companies are very careful about wording when it comes to actually letting on how much they store, keep and sell on.

I won't have one I. The house

YANBU for being annoyed that he's turned off what he knows functions as your alarm without telling you. YABU for having one in a private space without the consent of everyone who uses that space. He should have discussed this rather than just turning it off constantly, but you should also just get an alarm clock or use your phone's alarm function.

My Alexa will regret listening to me. Its either random chatter with the teens or me singing along badly to the radio.

It know me when you’re having sex. Creepy.

M

I have them throughout the house, but not in the bedroom. I might, if I lived alone, though. PP are right, though, that if he has his phone in the room, he's already being "monitored" by it. (Better not mention that, though, or he'll be banning phones, next!)

OP, you'll just have to use your phone for alarms and music. You can buy a bluetooth speaker to play music from your phone, or use comfortable yoga/sleeping headphones.

And just to add - you can revoke your phone's permissions to listen for voice commands, and therefore stop it listening constantly without you activating this option or actively initiating voice recording/dictation features and the like.
You can't do that when the whole device's prerogative is to respond to voice commands, as in the case of Alexa/Google Nest etc., so they aren't as comparable as people make out to be. It's a bit of a false equivalency.

My DD has one in her bedroom. I refuse to have one anywhere else in the house, I don't trust them at all. But I also cover up my cameras on my laptops and turn off the voice feature on my smart phones/tvs.

@MrsWinters

It know me when you’re having sex. Creepy.

M

How come? Unless your orgasm word is "ALEXA!!!"

He agreed to having it in the house. He doesn't get to unilaterally decide you can no longer have it. YANBU.

Omg the MN batshittery has reached a new level 🤣

Get off your smart phones folks!!!

I couldn't give a shiney shit if Alexa is listening to me. If anyone wants to listen to our fucked up conversations they're welcome!

@IstayedForTheFeminism

My ex used to do that. He didn't even live in the house but would turn the Alexas/smart plugs 9ff when he stayed. He also hated me using the "announcement" and "drop in" features. Apparently shouting up the stairs at the DC was better.

I would agree with your ex. What's so bad about shouting "dinner's ready" and the like, up the stairs?

What a detached society we're living in when we're making announcements (i.e. communicating with people in the same household via a device.

We have 5 in the house, including 3 bedrooms. Honestly, if anyone thinks listening to DH snore and me using ‘brown noise’ to get to sleep can crack right on.

Meanwhile, life is for living, not worrying about prepping and being tracked. Unless you live in the middle of nowhere with no mobile, smart tv, online presence etc believe me, you ARE being tracked whether you like it or not.

There are some paranoid people on this thread! 😝

I would agree with your ex. What's so bad about shouting "dinner's ready" and the like, up the stairs?

Well there's nothing wrong with shouting up the stairs. But I prefer not to. My neighbours probably prefer not hearing me yell up the stairs. I don't have to wonder if they haven't heard me. I don't end up with a sore throat from shouting multiple times per day. Unbelievably we actually do most of our communicating face to face.

If he'd had lived here, he might have had a say in how I communicate with my dc. But he didn't. So it wasn't any of his business.

@youngestisapsycho

There are some paranoid people on this thread! 😝

Some naive ones too.

I think you either love or hate Alexa and I’m definitely in the HATE category. My husband has made our house smart so all the lights are linked plus the thermostat. I feel like such a dick having to say ‘Alexa turn on the light’ especially when the fucker doesn’t do it. I quite often go rogue and just use the light switches.

Phew, feels good to get that out!

@HumunaHey but the fact the announcement is telling other people dinners ready for example, it’s not exactly taking away communication (we communicate once everyone arrives at the dinner table!) but in a three story house with fire doors, teens listening to music in their rooms, it definitely makes more sense to ‘announce’ it around the house then bellow up the stairs!

We have them in almost all the rooms in the house. Only room we don’t is our bedroom but only because I’ve not got round go buying another not because of the room (although we have a voice activated fire stick, so probably works the same).

I love the drop in and announce options. I love I can turn music on in the kids rooms if I’m out waking the dog and I’m not convinced they are up for school.