How the Smartphone has Impacted Our Lives (Keeping Our Family Safe)
By Tom Leddo
Vice President
The Smart phone has revolutionized home and family safety. There are hundreds of apps for home monitoring that can be linked with a professionally installed home security system or a self installed video monitoring system (i.e. a Nanny Cam).
Jeff Sayegh, Director of Operations for Md7 in San Diego, is a pretty technically savvy guy who uses both a professional and self-installed version.
“We use the Cox Security and Belkin NetCam app to ensure our loved ones are safe. While I am traveling, I can ensure they are safe at night because I can remotely arm our home from my smartphone, check video of who has entered the house, inform me of any open doors or windows and it is all date & time stamped. When my wife and I both work, we have a babysitter pick up the kids and we occasionally peek in on them at any time using the Belkin NetCam app. Additionally, we have left the garage door open once or twice with no one at home. We placed a camera in the garage just to ensure we have closed it when we are rushing out.”
Another option is wireless locks for home doors that allow you to lock or unlock the door from anywhere you have a wireless signal and provide temporary e-keys to anyone you want to let in your house. This is extremely handy if you have houseguests. You can give them a temporary code that works for the length of their stay without having to worry about handing keys back and forth.
Some versions operate just like the wireless remote on your car to unlock the door automatically as you approach the door with your arms too full to find your keys.
The smartphone and Wi-Fi controlled garage door were recently highlighted in the Wall Street Journal. You can open/close your door remotely, sync with your HVAC to activate cooling or heating systems as you come home and receive updates each time the door opens/closes if you are tracking teenagers.
Probably the most common apps for keeping our families safe are tracking apps. Whether you want to find your lost phone, keep an eye on your teenage kids or spy on your spouse, there is an app for you. A husband and wife who are friends of mine have a healthy use of the spouse-tracking app when he commutes to and from work on his bike. She worries when he is riding in traffic and wants to know that he is safe and when he will be home. Since it is not easy, and dangerous, to answer the phone or text while riding in traffic, she simply tracks his phone using Find my Friends on their iPhones.
These are all good examples how the smartphone is impacting our daily lives in unbelievable new ways.
