How to be Jaded by Smart Rooms and Jacuzzis

Jaded by the Luxury of a Smart Room

We all wish for things that make our lives easier and more comfortable. In an earlier post on how laziness fosters creativity, I commented on how electronic gadgets render our lives more comfortable.

However, in a bid to make things more comfortable, do we have to make complicated choices as a result? Also, do we raise our expectations and, as such, become frustrated when these gadgets fail us? Does this result in us being jaded?

I had my first experience of a smart room in a hotel room in which I stayed overnight for a one-day conference. I checked into the hotel room on the morning of the conference. The attendant patiently walked me through the use of a tablet to open and close the curtains, turn the lights on and off, and control the air-conditioning. Hence I was very excited, and I eagerly tried it out myself briefly before leaving the room for the conference.

Challenges with Jacuzzi

The conference ended late and after a late dinner, I returned to my room around 9 pm. Consequently, I was exhausted and I looked forward to having a shower and heading straight off to bed. Thus, I entered the Jacuzzi. I just wanted a quick shower, so after glancing at the various settings for the Jacuzzi, I focused on just figuring out how to use the telephone shower for warm water.

Alas! The first spurt of water from the telephone shower was extremely hot. As a result, I yelped in pain. I thereafter fiddled with the hot and cold knob but to no avail. It seemed that the knob was permanently glued to “hot” and just wouldn’t shift to “cold” no matter how hard I tried. What a struggle!

I just longed for the simplicity of a simple shower with the barest of instructions. This experience of taking a shower was turning out to be an insurmountable feat! Were the water to be just cold, I would have managed it but this was just too hot! I began to resent the fact that there was a Jacuzzi in the bathroom.

After a lot of grunting and exerting all my energy on the faulty knob, it finally shifted and I got a mixture of hot and cold water. I then took a quick shower, with my energy totally depleted and all my enthusiasm totally eroded.

Musings

Consequently, I pondered on why taking a simple shower should be so complicated. In our quest for luxury and making our lives more comfortable, were we, in effect, not complicating things?

After all these musings, I finally fell asleep. In the morning, when I woke up, I eagerly picked up the tablet only to find it off. Apparently, the battery had been low and was dead. Unfortunately, there was no charger in the room for the tablet. Hence, I grudgingly got up to open the curtains, adjust the temperature of the air-conditioning, and turn on the lights.

I then realized that, if I were not to be in a smart room, I would have carried out all these activities as a matter of course and with no resentment. Now, here I was, frustrated that the tablet had given out on me. I had even forgotten to be grateful to God that I was alive and could walk to the window to open the curtains!

Do plenteous gadgets indeed make our lives easier? Do we end up taking so many things for granted and hence, becoming jaded? Food for thought….

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