For those just starting out on the road to a Smart Home, there’s a unique joy that comes from the first time the devices do their smart thing: something between amazement, wonder, and the feeling that a door has just opened to a new dimension of possibility.[1]
Sitting on my small patio as the daylight slowly fades away and the lights in my house automatically light up, I feel like James Bond. It happens every day and every day I still smile with joy. Having a smart home certainly makes you feel like you have stepped into the future, and it is magnificent.
Seeing the tablet on my wall as you enter my home, for me, is the equivalent to the Mercedes Benz emblem on many people’s cars. We spend money on so many different statement items, clothes, cars, phones, shoes or sunglasses, etc, because they make us feel great. My biggest investment is my home and I think my house is one of my biggest statement items, so the emblem that makes me feel proud and give me a sense of achievement is the tablet with the MyPlace app hanging on my wall saying, this is a smart home!
I don’t have the latest iPhone, a 50 inch TV or a DSTV subscription. My luxury purchase was the smart home products I have. The price difference between the cheapest smart phone you can buy and the new iPhone or Samsung is R20,000. The difference in price between a 75 inch Samsung TV and 50 inch JVC is R30,000. Those luxury phones and TV’s are both great, but for the difference in price between the phones or TV’s, I can turn my home into a smart home.
In the same way that a Mercedes makes driving more comfortable, my smart home makes living more comfortable. It has helped eliminate minor irritations. Like lights being left on during the day, or getting into bed in winter and noticing the bathroom light is still on.
Waking up in a freezing bedroom during winter? I scheduled MyPlace to switch the aircon on half an hour before I wake up so I can get dressed without catching a cold. Arrive home to a boiling hot house in the middle of summer? Switch the aircon on before I leave the office allows me to come home to a perfectly cooled home. Want to open the gate for somebody when you aren’t home? No problem! Dim the lights to watch a movie – don’t even get off the couch! Going out for the evening in a rush (always a rush it seems)? Leave the house and set it to “I’m out” setting – lights switch off, water feature off, aircon off, blinds go down, all with the touch of a button.
The less time we spend doing boring repetitive tasks, the happier we would all be! This is a luxury, and it is a luxury we all want to have. Like having an iPhone, it moves from an outrageous luxury to a necessity, to a need! Now when I open my gate from my phone and the garage light comes on and the geyser switches on, I feel that thrill, that luxury. Am I ahead of the curve in believing things or just on my own curve?
[1] https://www.blogography.com/archives/2017/02/the-joy-of-home-automation.html