To just want to use a fucking light switch

[Iwrotethelyricstoaxlf]

We’ve had Alexa bulbs (other smart bulbs available) for the last few years.

Alexa is getting more stubborn at turning the bloody things on.

Would I be unreasonable to ding the whole
fucking lot out and just use the bloody switch instead.

Its honestly driving me nuts.

Alexa never used to respond to my SIL. I think Alexa was the other woman!!!

I have never ever understood the appeal of this barring physical impairment. I get using it for timer / empty house situations or heating on remote but to be in a room or walking past the door where the switch would be and then having to unlock your phone or interact with a speaker that may or may not listen is bonkers. I completely agree with a pp that we seem to constantly make life more complicated and then wonder why everyone is so stressed and annoyed all the time.

I haven’t lived in a house where most rooms just had one light on one light switch for nearly 30 years. Almost every room in my home is lit by several lights - ceiling lights, uplighters, lamps, under cabin lights, picture lights, etc. And quite a few of those are on dimmers. With automation I can set several different modes for a room, suitable for different uses or times of the day, and switch everything to a particular mode, or switch everything off, with just one command. It’s a lot less faff than going around my living room switching on all the lights and lamps and setting the right brightness.

Tbf despite my grumbling upthread I did enjoy my Tapo smart plugs for my Christmas lights this year 😆
although a non smart timer plug would’ve been ok too.

but I set it to a routine of switching on and off but could also do it other times on my phone (or by voice) but prefer phone. And ditto for the outside Christmas lights where the plug was in an awkward place in the garage.

But since Xmas I’ve transferred the plugs onto some lights and it’s just annoying me in the main!

I can't even be doing with an ordinary lamp let alone something smart. I will only use a simple switch at a handy height on the wall.

I can assure you, my severe mental illnesses, caused by trauma, a chemical imbalance in my brain, and a hormonal imbalance, are not in the least bit concerned with how I turn on the bedroom light.

I have a different brand but have remote switches for them. So you press the switch like you would the normal switch but also have the smart options available. I hate using Alexa, I find her so jarring! It’s particularly good for dc2 as their light-switch was in a stupid position and for dc3 who likes to read in bed but can’t be bothered to get out of bed again to turn the light off and would often stay up too late reading. Theirs gradually dims then turns off at 8.30pm.

I like being able to turn lights on from my phone before going downstairs in the winter, the timers on our everyday lights, the routines for the Christmas lights, being able to gradually dim lights automatically, or gradually brighten them in the morning to wake children up. I like that I can set them into holiday mode when we go away so it looks like someone is home. DC4 finds the colour changing very exciting.

But when we changed our internet provider and I had to re-add them all individually I did think that we had over complicated life!

A little warning to the people who use the smart plugs: depending on which makes and models you are using, if there is a power cut, sometimes these plugs will automatically turn on when the power is restored. Then if they don't automatically reconnect to your network you won't be able to turn them off remotely. For people who use them for things like electric blankets or heaters this can be dangerous.

All my bulbs switch on after a power cut too. Only half reconnect to the network themselves which means having to go around them all flicking them on and off three times to set them up again.

We don’t have Alexa but friends do and I’m not inspired by the relentless shouting at Alexa to do things and she doesn’t. We do have some smart plug sockets which I use for lamps around the house - I love these as I can switch lights on/off when not home and we can programme them when away etc. I would not want smart bulbs.

Dh loves all this - he even proudly showed me the new smart tumble dryer.
Apparently you put stuff in it then fiddle with your phone to put it on. I have never used it because I'm already standing next to it.
Also do not carry my phone round all day as if its a tiny dictator.

The lights are OK when set outside and dh sets the heating in his garden office.

It does make me feel old though. Not embracing new tech. But it's time consuming and doesn't always work.

Yanbu it's literally like having another child who doesn't listen to a word I'm saying and needs telling 10 times

I like smart lights but we’ve got the Hue ones as well so there is a switch. I wouldn’t have them without that option.

But how will Jeff Bezos know when you're home if you don't tell him?

I like it when tech can solve problems for me, and take away little annoyances in life. But so much of the tech industry is about "solving" something that wasn't a problem in the first place (in order to scrape data from us). I don't really find using light switches cumbersome (in fact I have never thought about light switches very much, which is a sign that they're working well) so there doesn't seem any point to setting it up via Alexa (a creepy data-mining presence in every house I've been in that has it, too).

Didn’t even realise this was a thing, and I’m so glad I didn’t. Give me light-switches any day, I’ve never asked Alexa for anything. Stupid gimmick can go hang.

I’ve seen 2001 !!!

I ditched mine. Much easier.

I have the annoyance of all scenarios - am physically disabled so being able to instruct Alexa to turn lights on/off without physical movement is great. However I also have very frustrating periods where my speech is impaired so Alexa doesn’t understand me. She is frequently apparently very sorry but she can’t help me with that request. DH, on the other hand, always understands “please dim the fucking lights” however I pronounce it I know I should just set routines with Alexa but I’m too stubborn and want to cling onto my limited independence as long as possible. I’ll give in eventually no doubt.

(I do also keep candles and wind up/battery powered/solar lights etc in the house as I agree we are becoming over reliant on tech as a society, and our infrastructure is leaving us vulnerable as PPs have said).

I like switching things on, turning dials, using a proper key. Yanbu

Surely the benefit of using Alexa is when you have a group of lights that need to go on at the same time? So we have our living room set up to turn in the three lamps with one command rather than going round and fiddling with switches on cables/under the bulb for each one. We never use the. “Big light” for sitting in the room but if I just need to go in there quickly to get something when it’s dark I use the switch to switch on the big light manually.

(I had a separate lamps circuit in my old house pre Alexa, controlled by a single wall switch, that was also good)

I also think the majority of people saying “why on earth would someone need stuff like this” are just ignorant of the benefits for people with disabilities. There’s no point getting arsey (unless it’s that annoying wide eyed faux naïveté) and they just need it explaining. I can’t find the energy to be angry about ignorance if it’s just unthinking rather than deliberately disablist. It does get a bit wearing though sometimes, having to educate people.

When we had our house renovated I had the plugs sited at hip level throughout the house. The builders thought I was nuts. It is so much more practical and everyone who stays is struck by the ease.

We don't have Alexa but can well I can, DH isn't interested operate the heating, alarm, and kitchen downlighter colours from my phone. It's far enough for us.

Someone up thread said about getting Alexa to boil the kettle whilst still in bed. That's what a quorker tap is for!

This. It’s pretty useful for turning groups on and off, and setting things up for like when you watch a film so have only specific lights on low.

also good for turning lights off when you’re in bed. Also a hall light on automatically when it knows you’ve just pulled up on the drive is really helpful.

as with all tech, use it when it helps, don’t use it when it doesnt

We have them in some rooms. The landing has a sensor as that was the light that was always going on and off in the evening. That's useful for when one of the kids needs the toilet in the night.

The ones we have work for us. I like being able to switch my bedroom light on and off from bed. Personally it's not a 'faff'.

Not sure why people are being condescending against those who have them, how you switch on a light once or twice a day does not make you superior. If some people like them then what's the issue?

All of our IoT stuff is on a separate SSID with client isolation, and I only connect stuff that genuinely needs the internet. No, I don’t want my oven talking to an app, thanks very much.

I can see why turning lights on with Alexa would be a boon to people with some types of disability, or if your mobility was temporarily impaired by illness, but for a fully mobile person it's so little effort to flick a light switch that I don't think it's worth the hassle of setting it up and dealing with the inevitable periodic glitches.