This article from MIT says this year’s CES (Consumer Electronics…what? anyway it’s the big annual consumer electronics expo in Las Vegas) was all about voice-controlled home gadgets. I’m excited about certain things. I like the idea of a video doorbell and smoke detectors that can text me if they sense something while I am not home, for example.

The main concern people seem to have is privacy. While that concerns me a little, I am more concerned about repair and replacement of all this stuff as it wears out. There are a lot of little things broken in my house right now. I know how to fix some of them. I know who to call on others, although it can be a royal pain to get them to actually show up, diagnose the problem, and then follow up until it fixed. My “home warranty”, which is really just a contract with a network of independent repair people, helps a little to get them to be responsive and follow up, but dealing with them is still a pain. While I am fixing things, other things are going to break. Things like keyholes and doorbells last at least 20 years with minor repairs, and traditional dumb appliances last 10 or so years with minor repairs. It is better to just accept that things break at a certain rate and deal with it than to get frustrated, although they do seem to have a tendency to break all at once when I have other challenges going on in my family and work life. I know there is absolutely nothing special about me and everyone deals with the same issues, except the super rich who can just pay someone else to worry about it.

Now, when we add all the smart technology to the dumb things in our home, they are still going to have most of the same dumb problems they have always had, requiring occasional minor repairs and replacement after 10-20 years. But the added technology is going to need some combination of physical repairs and tech support frequently, and it will probably need to be replaced every 2 or 3 years like any other electronic device. Except now it will be 100 little things breaking and needing replacement in your house. Probably, you will need some kind of service contract for someone to come check and fix things at least monthly.