“She always set three alarms for fear that the first employees to arrive would discover her sleeping – a Goldilocks without her bears”. — Billie Letts
A L A R M F A T I G U E A G R I M R E A L I T Y
This week’s Wednesday Challenge on Susan and my alternate site is ALARMS.
Today I do not think it is an exaggeration to say that the majority of us live in a state of perpetual agitation and alarm not necessarily due to any political, economic or social threat but due more to the many high tech gadgets we have willingly installed in our homes, offices, automobiles and work places to keep us safe.
Although many of the alarm systems are geared to our health and safety ( I.C.U. monitors, fire and burglar alarms) there are those that cater to a consumer market overly concerned with their own well being and not aware of the fact that all the whistles and hoopla associated with their protective gimmicks is giving them alarm fatigue.
Have you ever had the pleasurable and unexpected experience of walking past a parked automobile in a shopping mall and been startled when one owners car alarm began its blaring cacophony of horn blaring because you happened to walk too near the owner’s vehicle?
I recently discovered that my refrigerator has an irritating alarm system that is activated when the door to the fridge itself or the freezer is left ajar for more than a few minutes. I had to track the source of the commotion. That was embarrassing.
Consumers should try to get a grip on their fears and phobias and take a much more realistic view of how much safety we really need in our lives.
The cost of being overly secure means we lose our actual ability to pay attention to matters that could influence our well being.
THE MAIN AISLE (c) 2023 
I like having the built in alarm that my fridge has, when you have Joshua living with you it’s needed!
House alarms are the ones that bother me. We used to have a burglar alarm that even a moth flying next to a room sensor would set off. Fortunately, the alarm we have now is not quite as sensitive.
House alarms can be likened to torture when you have to listen to them for most of the day because the owner cannot be contacted. We have a neighbour way down the lane whose burglar alarm can be heard up here.
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I wonder if that neighbors alarm is covering for the neighborhood?
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We used to have an Alsatian that did that! 🙂
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Community minded. Brilliant.
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My oven has an alarm in case I keep the door open too long. Which is as nutty as it sounds. And my clothes dryer sounds about six times to let me know my clothes are dry and to remove them. Seems like my appliances have less patience than I do!
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I think Lois that is why many of these “smart appliances” can be controlled remotely by our cell phones. If you want to irritate your fridge or stove try calling them when they begin to act up. In effect making them grit their virtual teeth waiting for you to finish your call to them That might work. 🙂
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haha! I have no intention of calling any of my appliances any time soon. One guy I worked with used to aggravate his kids by setting the thermostat at home while he was at work. I have no such apps on my phone and don’t intend to add them! 😆
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Lois, My dryer beeps on completion, I like it because I can fold before the clothes become creased; the dryer can be operated remotely by my cell phone, but I never use the Smart facility.
Given the present-day climate, I try to use the dryer as little as possible.
My washing machine plays Schubert’s Die Forelle (The Trout) when it’s finished its cycle. I was delighted when I first heard it because I sang the English version at the town hall as a schoolgirl.
Another version – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4GRVUoyA4s
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Strike up the band.
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Sue–your washing machine sounds lovely! I really do like the dryer alerting me that it’s done because, like you, I don’t want my clothes laying in a pile getting creased. But sometimes I want to finish one more thing–but the dryer is not having it. Inevitably, it wins, and I stop what I’m doing and get my clothes. Isn’t technology amazing?! Who would ever have thought??
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So true, Lois, who would have thought that one day even our laundry equipment would be controlled by computers.
I can remember helping my mum in the back scullery when I was a very small child; she had a washtub with a separate wringer that had a handle to turn the rollers.
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My mom used the same equipment to wash clothes. A sign of the times I guess. Did you use an ice box to keep things cold?
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No ice, we had a pantry and some sort of cool box. We didn’t even have a fridge until I was seventeen!
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That was about the same for me. The ice man brought a large cake of ice for the fridge.
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