The new Amazon Echo will have a “drop-in”, (feature???) where people you approve can just “drop-in” and video chat instantly. No picking up or screening the call, they just show up on your screen and start chatting. No warning.
In a world that has trained people already to never shut off their cell phones and spend the first part of their day checking emails and updating their status and where people think you died if you don’t answer a text in under a minute, it is a disturbing trend.
We already get rated at work on how “Available” we are and even Facebook will show how often and how fast you respond to their version of text. Now in this always on world companies are pushing us to never be away at all. Even in the book 1984 there were corners to hide in from time to time. But forget that in the new 24/7 “never away” world we are creating.
While I have spent my life working with and promoting all things “Tech”. I resist the idea that you should or even must be available to anybody in the world 24/7.
Technology is supposed to make your life better and free you to do the things you like. If any software or hardware device increases your workload or decreases your enjoyment then it has missed the whole point of why it should exist in the first place.