Tech Hostage

The solution I've cobbled for us is that Julie (my partner) owns the music account that runs our bedroom and kitchen devices, I own a music account that's used on my desktop computer...my son is using an Alexa that's connected to his music account...and my daughter has a Google nest...signed in to a spare phone that's entirely signed in for her connected to her music account.

This Jenga tower of tech just about works, except my daughter can't control her lights from her device. "Make my room red!" she cheers to much disappointment from Daddy who explains: "I just can't work it out yet".

I am a goddamn hostage to tech.

This is why I have not yet put any smart tech in my house. Perhaps it’s an inevitability as my kids grow, but our music is a Bose CD/radio player, a record player, or an iPhone plugged in to my Bose and controlled manually. Maybe it’s simply because I grew up on them, but I really enjoy the experience of CDs. Plus they are incredibly cheap at thrift stores these days. Every album I ever wanted as a teen is now $1.00 at the thrift store.