Wednesday 27 September 2017

A house of needy electronic devices

I wrote recently about how our house is full of things that always need charging. As I was writing it I was trying to ignore the washing machine beeping away to tell me that the cycle was finished, and I realised how much time I spend looking after all these electronic things in our house.

The washing machine is probably the most persistent in terms of volume. When the cycle has finished it will emit beeps for quite some time, just in case you've forgotten it. It was closely rivalled by the dishwasher, but that seems to have stopped with the beeping now. I'm hoping it's not a sign that it is on its way out - it is quite old! Fortunately the tumble dryer is in the garage so I can't hear the beeping from the house, although I did hear it once when I popped out to the car on the driveway - I hope it doesn't annoy the neighbours!

Our needy washing machine

My phone is also very needy. The charge on my current phone one doesn't run down quite as quickly as on previous models, but it still needs charging overnight and usually a top up during the day. I have turned off most notifications, after I found that I felt compelled to check it after every beep. Now I'm only alerted by a call or a new message, and also when a rare Pokemon has been spotted nearby - that's something the husband has set up that I don't know how to stop. Occasionally the phone will make a new noise that I've not heard before and it's usually a new app I've installed that has automatically turned on notifications - they go straight off!

Finally there's my Fitbit - it's completely self-inflicted of course but I'm quite addicted to reaching my 10,000 steps per day so I find myself constantly checking it to see how well I'm doing throughout the day - and celebrating when I get the congratulatory buzzing and fireworks!

Are you constantly being hassled by your electronic devices?

7 comments:

  1. We put the dishwasher on overnight and it only beeps once so I don't normally hear it - but the microwave beeps every two minutes if you don't open the door, which was very annoying when we used to sterilise things in it! Other than that I usually turn noises off on everything I can as I find them very irritating

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    1. At least our microwave is quite ancient so it doesn't have a beep, just a single ding when it's done!

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  2. With us it's the fridge, if the door is not quite shut properly it has an irritating beep. Although I suppose that one is useful. And the oven timer of course.

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    1. Our fridge is quite old too so no beeping there either - these comments are now making me realise that things could be a lot worse!

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  3. Oh you make me laugh with your washing machine beeping! I've got the same problem, though I usually ask it each time why it needs to beep so consistently! And as for my phone, I think I'm almost up to an IV drip for it...

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    1. I find myself talking back to the washing machine too, it's so persistent!

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  4. Oh yes our fridge and freezer beep if the door isn't shut properly, but that's a good thing really, even if it's annoying when I'm unpacking the shopping or cleaning the shelves. Our last fridge-freezer died after the freezer door was not-quite-shut overnight so I don't mind the alarm on this one!

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