If one word best embodies the goal of home automation – it should be simplicity. Such a statement seems to lack insight. After all, isn’t the point of home automation to take the complexity in our lives and simplify it?
Sure it is, but I’m not talking about achieving the end goal of simplicity for our home. I’m talking about baking in simplicity from the start.
In my Guide to Getting Started with Home Automation, I discussed a process to automate your home, but I overlooked the fact that you’ll never achieve your end goal of simplicity if your digital life is cluttered from the start. That’s why Five Steps to Declutter Your Digital Lifestyle should be treated as a predecessor to getting to the home automation starting line.
A year ago I lived in a home with five different media zones and every imaginable home automation device: smart lights, smart locks, motion sensors, a smart garage door, voice assistant technology, a robot vacuum, and more.
Since then, I’ve moved multiple times and have finally settled into an 800 square foot, single bedroom condo. While it’s not (yet) as technologically advanced as my previous home (I’ve only set up my Alexa voice assistants and a TV) it’s a much simpler life and has gotten me closer to the end goal of digital living in a simplistic fashion.
I’m sure over time I’ll wind up adding back smart lighting, smart locks, and a few other digital necessities to simplify my life further, but through this process, I’ve realized the biggest impact on my simplified life wasn’t automation – it was simplicity itself.