This morning my Alexa was having a bit of a funny five minutes. She overslept or had a hangover or something and was pathetically apologising for being useless. Opening Facebook as part of my morning shuffle round the social media platforms I was interested to see someone in a nearby town asking if they were alone in having Alexa issues.
Reading through the comments at first there was a general consensus that there was indeed a wider issue with she who should not be named out loud unless you want to accidentally order 46 packs of beetroot.
But as is so often the case on socials, the thread soon turned sour with, predictably, someone soon piping up that they didn't have an issue because they'd never let modern technology into their home.
OK so not everyone enjoys voice activated gadgets and I'll admit it took my slightly luddite husband a while to get the hang of it but using Alexa and other smart tech we've saved money on our electricity with smart heating and lights. I enjoy the feeling of security with my Ring doorbell and outside lights which can be controlled via app, voice or, shock horror - the switch on the wall!
But why the hell jump on a simple information sharing thread to slag people off for their own choices which don't affect anyone else in the slightest? Slow handclap to the smug git who boasted about not needing Alexa and therefore would continue listening to their music through their phone or laptop. If they said they had fashioned an instrument out of stones and shells to entertain themselves musically I'd be impressed but just eschewing one form of tech for another doesn't help your argument that doing things the old fashioned way is the best way to live.
I should have known better than even look at any group called "Everything *insert name of your town here*" as they are well known destinations of choice for keyboard warriors who have a self righteous opinion on everything.
Litter=teens=bad parents
Kids in a group anywhere=thugs=bad parents
Noise/fireworks/smell of weed = teens=bad parents.
Sometimes people have a point. Drivers should avoid parking vehicles with two wheels on the pavement and it does sometimes make it difficult for wheelchairs/pushchairs/mobility scooters. But putting up a pic, naming and shaming is not the way to go in my opinion, especially if it's a one-off.
Kids in a playground at night being a bit rowdy? Yup - that was me and probably you as a teen too. Teens natural stomping grounds are playgrounds, bus shelters and skate parks. And the complainants are the same people who say kids spend too much time indoors on screens.
I have a personal rule that mostly I read the posts or comments, have a laugh or a rant to myself and scroll past. I suppose without these petty keyboard warriors social media wouldn't be anywhere as entertaining. The trouble is, it doesn't take long for some people to show their darker, bigoted side- maybe not in a post about malfunctioning smart speakers but certainly in other posts I've seen.
I might be guilty of oversharing what I eat but am I guilty of cowardice by not tackling the online loonies? Or should I stick to the golden rule of being an online content creator.
Don't feed the trolls.