Balancing new tech and its maintainance

Each new piece of technology makes our lives easier but it also comes with things we need to take care of, for it to work optimally. Hence, when it comes to thinking about adopting new technology we need to think about the costs associated with adding this technology, with the things we will have to do to maintain and support it, and on a whole does it make our lives better or not.

When we were expecting, I had seen Matt D’Avella’s video on trying minimalism with kids. In it Matt had mentioned a few things like a fancy bassinet for the baby, or a cover thing for the baby’s high chair. I was thinking about it today. Sure putting a cover thing under the high chair saves the floor, and you can reuse some food, but then you need to manage the cover. You need to ensure it is clean and hygienic. You need to tuck it away done. Is it worth it? For us, no. For others, maybe.

I had a similar feeling about the robovac cleaning our floors. Our floors have never been cleaner. But, before we go to sleep, we have to ensure everything is wrapped and put in boxes. We have to ensure there are no wires on the floor, or socks, or whatever. We have to also clean its various sensors from time to time, clean the bin, fill the water tank, etc. Overall, the Roborock works for us though. It keeps the floors clean. It does not not clean the floor because it does not feel like it.

We need to think about the balance between the value we get out a new technology and the cost of maintaining that technology or having it work optimally.