Journal 92 Automatic Shutoffs, Stress, Analog TV

Hi girls.

How are you? How was your week?

Let’s talk about something light.

What is your opinion on auto shutoff in lights, devices, and appliances?

Lately, I have been getting pretty annoyed by it!!! As a kid I watched an old style CRT TV and it never turned off on its own. There was a timer function if you wanted it but the TV did not just automatically turn off on its own. (It also could not connect to the internet, watch me with a camera, or try to guess my mood by smelling the air or something. Plus, it got free TV from the air if you had an antenna.)

But the modern TVs all automatically turn off after a few minutes. With each new TV or TV device that we purchased over the years, it shut off faster and faster. Our new Apple TV shuts off so quickly that you don’t even have time to use the bathroom!

The washing machine turns off after being paused for a few minutes. This makes it more stressful to soak a load of laundry. I know this for a fact, because I have a different washing machine that can pause and does not shut off!!! When it is done soaking I can simply unpause it. Also I can swish it intermittently during the soak.

The decorative lights turn off after a few hours. Some days are tough. Let me have my lights please. If I want them on all day that’s my choice! Instead, I go around restarting the six hour timer because there is no “ON” button anymore!!! It is either timed or “OFF.”

These things sound small, but they do add up! These small bits of stress all add up and increase stress, anxiety, and frustration. Instead of the TV, or washing machine, or lights helping me, I feel like I am working around them! And it’s not the appliances, but the new programming!

One time an automatic shutoff was very good and important: the safety shutoff on a hair straightener! I used one as a teenager and forgot to turn it off a few times and thankfully it turned off on its own.

But those kinds of safety features have been installed on appliances way before appliances started getting “smart.”

I wish we could have modern technology but without irremovable wifi capability, without cameras, without “smart” anything (unless you choose to have it).

I also think analog over-the-air broadcast TV should return.

This is my hope.

Please please please have a good week ahead!

Asya