When the Technology Refuses to See You
My real trouble is this: that tiny photoelectric cell you end up frantically waving at, instead of a switch you can simply flick or press, almost never acknowledges me. Somehow, I am not human temperature. The same way bartenders at a party find me completely invisible, which is honestly my secret X-Men superpower, I am also the worst possible candidate for the so-called home of the future. From getting locked out of my own iPad for 10 years to routinely blanking on my passwords, including the one for my password manager, I am surfing the tech wave so badly that my email is still parked at @aol.com.
The Honesty of a Switch
Designer Thomas Yang, at least, is on my side. He tells me,
“There is an honesty and an agency that comes with a light switch … a tactile action and interaction with the world of materials that is not dependent on a server.”
Personally, I even feel a little virtuous getting up off the couch to adjust the dimmer myself.
The Smart Scale and the Keys I Miss
Harry got us a smart scale. It might sound harmless enough, though I am not thrilled by the thought of a hacker group blackmailing me every time I decide to treat myself to an extra scoop of rocky road. A far more rational fear is this: if your Wi-Fi happens to go down, sorry, you will not be finding out how much you weigh that morning. Nor opening your front door. I miss keys. I like landlines that do not heat up and threaten me with an iPhone-shaped brain tumor. And that is only the tip of the next generation's digital iceberg.
This piece is part of TrendKia's The Future of Home series, built to help you understand what 'home' will look like tomorrow and beyond.
The Dream of a Zero Labor Home and the Reality of Robots
Shelly Palmer, a futurist who consults for Microsoft and other companies, spends his days explaining the trends in AI to corporate leadership. His widely circulated newsletter notes a real quality gap between the AI robotics you see in demos and the products that are actually ready to ship. Still, the destination is what LG calls the “Zero Labor Home.” Meanwhile, the South Korean government has poured $770 million into humanoid robot development, betting on enormous year-over-year growth. Unitree, a Chinese company, is marketing one of these machines for light industrial tasks. As far as I can tell, though, no model yet exists that can load and unload the dishwasher, correctly sort the flatware and neatly nest the spoons.
And anyway, if I were sitting at home minding my own business while a fleet of robots cleaned around me, I might have a panic attack. It sounds like being stranded without a car in a bumper-cars rink. I am simply too old for a Jetsons world.
We Laugh When Robots Stumble
On the other hand, you must have seen that viral clip of a robot waiter having a complete meltdown in a restaurant in Cupertino, California, of all places the home of Apple. Or the reel of that Russian contraption face-planting during its much-hyped debut. When we watch these humanoids falter, fail or freak out, we all burst out laughing. Partly because it is genuinely funny, but also because it makes us feel superior while they look stupid. For now. I am not so sure we will keep cackling once our friends own robots that iron every last shirt without a single complaint.
But at this moment, dealing with fragile new technology that breaks, gets hacked, or worse, somehow goes haywire and murders your entire family, feels more like a headache than a blessing. As a Gen X'er who tends to fear change (I never bought a CD player and clung to my mixtapes until the bitter end), I know the future is coming. I just will not be the one rushing to adopt it first.
A Designer's Regret After 30 Years
Rafe Churchill, a designer at the AD PRO Directory firm Hendricks Churchill, agrees wholeheartedly. Over the past 30 years he has fitted several houses with so-called smart systems, and today he has regrets. He says,
“Ultimately they create little more than frustrated clients and even more frustrated second owners who realize the equipment is becoming obsolete.”
He adds,
“At the risk of offending prospective clients, I firmly believe there is nothing comforting about illuminated touch screens.”
The Smart Kitchen Is the Stuff of My Nightmares
For me, it is the whole idea of a smart kitchen that truly belongs in a nightmare. Within the next year, Samsung will start embedding Google Gemini directly into its Bespoke AI refrigerators, microwaves and ranges. Do I really want my fridge cameras scanning my groceries (the images are called “shelfies”) and reordering on my behalf? LG's Signature Oven Range has introduced Gourmet AI, which recognizes your dishes and automatically applies what it decides are the optimal settings. AI Browning watches the bread and pings you when it is ready. But, you know, I have eyes. A fridge that tells me my milk is going off? I have a nose. Do I genuinely need AI to inform me whether fresh food is good or bad? And what if I suddenly cannot switch off this supposedly smart oven and end up burning my house down?
Aesthetically, I also have no desire for a BlueOrigin command station in my kitchen. The room is meant to be a charming little nook where my family can gather, not a control room bristling with complicated launchpads.
When Even the Shower Becomes a Puzzle
Even showers are now supposedly “smart,” operated by an app, a control panel or your voice. AD100 Hall of Fame designer Alexa Hampton recalls one such bathroom gadget going hilariously wrong:
“I was recently in a house where I could not figure out a complicated shower. I had to ask a fellow houseguest to help me. We ended up sprayed and steamed, while dressed, in a tense variation of a Silkwood shower. I was not pleased.”
The Real Luxury Is Manual Control
While AI seems to be invading every corner of our lives, designers, paradoxically, are increasingly being asked to strip away the complexities of buggy, over-automated systems and treat manual control (hello, faucets!) as the ultimate luxury. High-end, custom-designed smart systems are frequently over-engineered, frustrating and hard to manage, not to mention possibly poor for security. I do not know much about hackers, but I did watch The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and I will take an old-school deadbolt over a computer standing guard any day. I want to turn a lock and feel the click. I want my house to look like a cozy little place to play mah-jongg, not produce a podcast. I even read about a sensor system that tracks your steps, with the floor lighting up beneath your feet like in the “Billie Jean” video. No, thanks. Automation is not my lover.
