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LIFE TECH FEATURE

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when enough screens are enough. Downtime modes allow for nuanced control or complete removal of the ability to play music or videos from a certain hour onwards, thus allowing you to start a more orderly bedtime routine with less

THE SMART HOME

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distractions for kids or grandkids. Alternatively, if you have a common area in your smart home or have an Airbnb-style arrangement, you can use the aforementioned functions to ensure your internet can provide visitors with online access for general knowledge queries or entertainment, but also ensure everything stays above board. NIGHT LIGHT DELIGHTS As a parent, your child’s bedtime might not be something that you've thought about using your smart home for, but the science says it's definitely worth investigating. According to the National Sleep Foundation: “When you’re ready to begin the day, exposing your body to the sun

will not only help alert the brain and set you in motion, it will also help you sleep later on. Have blinds or curtains that can cocoon you in darkness by night, but that you can easily pull back to bathe the room

in sunlight when you wake. Before you start the day, spend some time in the light, and remember to give your body doses of sun

A CLEAN FREAK'S GRACELAND Here's a bit of ease of living that everybody will want to get onboard with – making absolute pain in the butt domestic chores automated. Take a robot vacuum cleaner for instance. If you get the right one, you can have it map out the vast ocean of floor space of your house, like a mini-Magellan, then you can smart schedule it into getting the job done while you're off doing non- vacuum related things. Even better, some of these have back-to-base technology to avoid situations where their

safe and out of trouble, despite sounding like a counterproductive measure, a smart house can often be the best way to more sensible screen-time parameters and curtail less desirable internet habits. Digital wellbeing is a newer feature that allows you to take control of how guests and family- link managed accounts can interact with your smart home system via two functions entitled filtering and downtime. Filtering does exactly what it says on the tin – it allows you to selectively limit or

throughout the day when possible.” This can be achieved with sleep conscious smart lights like the Philips Hue, a range that offer “White Ambiance” bulbs that may be tuned to glow warm at bedtime before slowly fading out, then in the morning, fade-up to a natural sunlight mimicking cool white light. End result: a much more relaxing, natural sleep routine. In addition to that, the power of scheduling “transition” times via your lighting can help you manage the expectations of a staunchly anti- bedtime child.

Maybe go with a chill colour shift when they've got 15 minutes to go. Fade in some relaxing music for the coup de gras that sends them packing to “Bedfordshire”.

utterly restrict video and/or music content coming from the likes of YouTube, Spotify or other popular entertainment services. Furthermore, you can limit the types of voice commands and responses which can be uttered by the voice assistant of your chosen ecosystem. Quick example: disabling all forms of yodelling media, or the command to ask Alexa to have a crack at some herself, is highly recommended. Next up, there's the matter of deciding

battery might run out mid-clean (and create an unexpected trip hazard,) plus the expected anti- collision technology to prevent furniture bumps or any ill-advised escape attempt down your stairs. Heck, some of these carpet masters are two-in-one dealios that can polish up your hard surfaces – it could mop while you shop! UNPLUGGING FOR HEALTH Speaking of keeping your loved ones happy,

38 MARCH 2022

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