Technology's promise of wonderful things in the future stretches from science fiction to science fact: self-driving cars, virtual reality, smart devices such as Google Glass, and the internet of things are designed to make our lives easier and more productive. Certainly inventions of the past century such as the washing machine and combustion engine have brought leisure time to the masses.
On the surface, tech that simplifies hectic modern lives seems a good idea. But we risk spending more of the time freed by these devices designed to free up our time through the growing need to micromanage them. Technology growth in the workplace can lead to loss of productivity; taken to the home it could take a bite out of leisure time too.
Actually, it is good for someone, not necessarily for all. Some smart technologies are designed for and better suited to certain groups, such as the elderly or disabled and their carers. There are genuine, real-world, day-to-day problems for some people that something like Google Glass and an internet-enabled bed could solve. But the problems that affect anything that's computerised and internet-connected re-appear: patches, updates, backups and security.
It seems there are too many choices even if people may only need to watch their favorite television programs.
