In many ways, I love the conveniences of technology. Keyless doors, wireless speakers, and the portability of smartphones, are some of my favorites. These things make my life easier. They’re also easy to use. This is the way I imagine technology should be. An invention that helps me and improves my life, maybe even in ways I hadn’t previously imagined.
The keyless door is a good example of this. Having a keyless door means I’ll never worry about forgetting, or losing, my keys. I can confirm it’s locked remotely through a smartphone app. This is perfect when I have that old nagging anxiety wondering if I locked the door when I left. It’s also handy when visitors come since I can open the door remotely, or provide them with a customized code for their visit. All in all, it solves a lot of problems. Previously I would have to leave a lockbox for guests, which sometimes led to a lot of drama when the visitor couldn’t open it. And if I had worry about leaving the door unlocked, I couldn’t do anything about it the whole day.
However, the keyless door is far from perfect. In one place I lived the door wouldn’t open because I hung a few shopping bags on the knob. I did this so I would remember to bring them to the car. All of a sudden, I was locked out. I kept trying the code, hearing the mechanism whir and attempt to open the lock. Yet, it couldn’t do it because of the weight of the shopping bags. I ended up breaking in through the bedroom window. After I did this a second time, I started hiding a key to the backdoor outside, old school style. Even though the front door was keyless, the backdoor had a regular lock. I had grown accustomed to being keyless and never had the backdoor key on me. whoops!
In those moments, I longed for the simplicity of a regular door lock. One that opened without needing batteries or unencumbered door handles. For these reasons, I’m sometimes wary of immediately jumping to technology to solve every problem, or perceived or real. Chances are, there’s probably already a way to solve it, even if it’s a little clunky and un-automated.