I’ve had an Echo (Alexa) for a few years now. Actually, I eventually added a second one in my bedroom. My first is by the TV in the living room, which led to that moment when I was watching Mr. Robot, and Darlene, having a romantic discussion, said, “Alexa, play Faith Hill” (I swear, in my memory, it was Lauryn Hill or someone similar, but I can’t find it online), and my Alexa started playing a different Faith Hill song from what was on the show. I was so amused that I stopped Alexa, rewound the show, and tried it a few more times.
My son enjoyed playing with it, though it had trouble understanding him at times. I played a few games on it for a while, then eventually just used it for timers when something was in the oven. Sometimes it would shut off, and I’d have to reset it to get it to work again. A few weeks ago, it shut off, and I didn’t reset. The one in the bedroom is still active, but I hardly use it.
I know there is a section of the country who thinks having an Alexa is an invasion of privacy. I get that. It’s always listening. And if I shut off the Alexa, Siri would still be listening, so modern technology is always going to have some sort of surveillance state involved. As long as it’s entertaining, most of us don’t care. Bread and circuses. But that wasn’t my point.
I’m not even sure what my point is. Maybe it’s that I’m about ready to move on from the tech toy that I’ve used for a while. It is useful in knowing when a package arrives, or when a weather event is about to happen, but I’m not feeling rushed to have it active anymore. I’m still trying to figure out how I feel about that.
Bill Abbott, poet, web page 