It was 2am and I didn’t want to go downstairs
The problem with “smart” homes — and what intelligence actually looks like
It was 2am and I absolutely did not want to go downstairs
The constant thudding coming from downstairs where my daughter and her three friends were supposedly “sleeping” — camped out in our theatre room.
Of course we’ll sleep, I was told.
We know you have places to be on Sunday morning. We won’t make any noise.
Reasoning I’m sure parents have heard — and believed — for generations.
This was my turn to fall for it.
Lying awake, I blamed everything: the design of the house, the design of the room, the decision to have the sleepover that particular weekend… essentially every life choice that had led me to that moment.
Then I remembered something.
We have a “smart” home.
Now don’t get me started on the idea of a smart home.
At this point, the word “smart” seems to apply to absolutely everything. My ice-cream scoop even has a USB port and heats up so it can perfectly carve through the litres of chocolate ice cream my youngest devours every week.
But in that moment, our house actually did behave intelligently.
Sitting beside me was a Control4 universal remote.
Normally I’m terrible with it — pressing the wrong buttons, fighting the LED screen while longing for hard buttons, somehow turning on TVs in different rooms and wondering why the screen I’m staring at isn’t responding.
But that night — clear of mind and motivated by survival — I finally gave our system the credit it probably deserved.
A few quick presses and the theatre volume dropped to something manageable.
No stomping downstairs.
No embarrassed teenager.
No mum ruining the sleepover.
Just silence.
And finally, sleep.
After 26 years working alongside my husband running an integration company, I might finally be sold on this whole home technology thing.
But here’s the thought that kept coming back to me the next morning:
I think the era of the smart home is losing its meaning.
Because when even my ice-cream scoop is “smart”, the bar has clearly dropped too low.
What our homes need isn’t more smart devices.
They need to be intelligent.
This is the first of a series exploring what comes after the “smart home”.
Homes that don’t just respond — but understand.
INVISIBLE BY DESIGN
The best systems don’t demand attention. They remove the need for it.. and that’s exactly how we think about it at Zelo Group.