I read a great article the other day written by the interiors expert Kristen Bateman in Town & Country US , which talks of how Americans are now shying away from tech in their homes in favour of the good old fashioned analogue.
Kristen argues that gone are complex lighting systems, massive televisions that disappear into the wall, Alexa everywhere ready at your beck and call, remote controls littering the room - people are choosing analogue. Apparently people are now opting for manual door bells with a proper ching, brass handles, bookcases on show full of proper hardback books - and who knows maybe even a good old fashioned photo album!
So why the change?
- First up is the fact that tech moves on so fast that what was super cutting edge five years ago is now mainstream. Constantly feeling the need to update tech is draining people and quickly taking all the fun out of getting a new gizmo. Also, getting an item replaced or repaired just becomes harder and harder as new and more innovative products hit the market.
- Which leads me on to the next point: repairs. The more technology you have in your home then the more there is to go wrong and so much of it is nigh on impossible to mend yourself. It all involves a specialist engineer, days of waiting and then a hefty bill at the end. As designer Ken Fulk puts it "When I come home, especially to a beach house or a ski house, the last thing I want is to have to wrangle with technology". We've all been there and its instantly sweaty palms inducing!
- And then there's also the notion, do we really want our homes to be smarter than we are? Do we want them to be listening to us all the time, pre-empting our needs (even predictive text can be infuriating) and deciding what they think may be best for us. Ambient intelligence is a concept that big tech companies have been working on for some time. The idea is that smart devices will make value judgements on what we want based on biometric sensors and predictive behaviour modelling. To bring this back to photos again ( my favourite subject! ) I do find it annoying when my phone comes up with 'memories of Boscastle' and it will be photos of the inside of a fridge and the wifi password! Imagine how random it would be if your phone had the ability to make up a photo album for you.
- Lastly people are increasingly warming to the idea that their homes should be as tech-free as possible. We're all surrounded by tech all the time and creating a tech-free haven is a real positive. Especially where children are concerned.
So, to bring it all back to BeGolden and our beautiful handmade books (I know it's not very modest but they really are) ...ditch the tech and go creative and make your own photo album of your holiday, get a guest book for your home so you have a tangible record of who stayed when and what you did, make a scrapbook of what you did last year!
As the designer Stephanie Roy-Heckl says, “There’s nothing luxurious about technology anymore,”