Flashback in time to 1999, I was 7 years old staying up late on a Friday night to watch the Disney Channel Original Movie, Smart House. If I could invent anything in the world it would be this house.
If you have the money, you might already be living in a house with a digital system that you can control from the palm of your hands. This system might be able to turn the lights on, lock the doors, and listen to music. In the Smart House, Pat can make you a strawberry smoothie, turn your wall into a giant TV, have a robot arm get the mail and clean up after any mess.
Don’t get me wrong there are plenty of new appliances and gadgets out there that help make life easier, but this house can do anything! It has been fifteen years since the movie came out and although our technology has come along way, I have yet to see a house this smart.
Check out a clip from the movie:
Advertising and creativity is all about time management. Today, there just never seems to be enough hours in a day. I find myself coming home from class with a backpack full of homework to do, but then I notice that pile of laundry on my floor or the dishes filling the sink. My roommates roll their eyes as I sit down at my desk instead of cleaning up the apartment. It would be so nice to just say, “Hey Pat, can you help me out?”
A smart house would not only need to save time but also save money. My house would need to focus on being energy efficient. Ever since I was young, I have always wished for the Smart House to be real. I feel like we are closer than ever to inventing the gadgets needed to complete the project, but before we do so, we also need to step back and take a bigger look at the world around us. Do we really need to design a house that can do everything?
What would be left for us to do? Nothing. We are already so caught up in our phones and computers…Imagine if we didn’t have anything else to do. We also need to focus on the millions of people across the world that can’t afford fresh water or shelter let alone a robot that makes smoothies!
Inventions can be great, but sometimes we need to be realistic. Before we go out and build a million dollar house, we should think about others too. Maybe someday in the future all of my childhood dreams will come true and everyone will be able to jam out to their favorite song in a Smart House.
