Amazon’s Alexa, and how this device will improve our futures.
Back in 2014 Amazon came out with the Alexa, a smart device like google’s Siri that enhances our everyday lives. All you have to say is “Alexa” and this technology is there to support you. With Alexa, you can play music and control the volume, set timers, and reminders, and have your device make announcements through other Alexa’s in your home. The “Verge” announced that around 25% of Americans have at least one Alexa in their home. With technology advancing every day I'm curious how this device will improve and what it would be like, and how much it could really help us in our far future. I use my Alexa multiple times throughout the day. For instance, I set homework timers and reminders for when I should start homework, take a break, and when I should be done by. Another way I use my Alexa is for an alarm to wake up when I have early workdays. Recently if I don't wake up, my mom who is in Washington state will use her Alexa to make sure I am awake by syncing our devices making her able to talk through our devices to one another, even from hundreds of miles away. Another way I use my Alexa is to play classical music for my cat while I am away, this helps calm him and ease his stress of being alone.
In the article, “Amazon Alexa- Blurring the boundaries between assistive tech and companionship”, by Gus Alexiou from Forbes.com, states, “Amazons Alexa is taking assistive technology to a whole new level by boosting disabled people’s emotional well-being and staving off loneliness, in addition to helping them accomplish important daily tasks.” Even though Amazon’s Alexa may be another piece of technology for us, for disabled people it is so much more. With help from Alexa, the disabled are becoming more independent and responsible with their everyday tasks. The physically impaired are able to use voice activation to everything from turning on light switches to adjusting the heat in their homes. For anyone, the Alexa is a smart hub to assist us in our lives.
I see this technology advancing in our futures to being more than just a small device that assists us. I see this technology being within our homes and office spaces. Having advanced settings that predict what we are doing in our day-to-day lives helps with our routines and schedules. Instead of just speaking to this device you can use words like the “wake words” to speak anywhere in your home or office building and your Alexa will listen through the walls of your home. For example, you have run upstairs in the middle of preparing dinner and realized you forgot to preheat the oven, all you would need to do is use your set “wake-word” and your Alexa will start listening to you as you speak. “Alexa, preheat the oven to 400 degrees” now when you are ready to go back downstairs to continue making dinner the oven will already be preheating to assist you. This could have many impacts on not only my field of study but probably many others. Imagine asking your Alexa to remind the building that you have an office meeting in 15 minutes and all you have to do is tell Alexa to remind all employees. Then, the intercom comes on in a quiet voice and lightly reminds your employees to make their way up to the meeting room. Having technology like this in the building of your job, will help with productivity and keep your staff on schedule. The positive effects this could have on society are endless, including having even more help for the disabled population in the comfort of their own homes, helping parents monitor their children and their screen times, and productivity in general in the house will increase. The negative effects of this advanced technology could include some people becoming too dependent on Alexa, I'm assuming we don’t want Alexa to be anyone's only companion and if people become too dependent on a device like this, the sociocultural norms could diminish. Like, saying please and thank you. We have all been raised to say our please and thank you’s when only speaking to a device that doesn't appreciate such words as humans do, people may begin to forget about their manners and the norms of speaking to others.