Is it done washing? Almost a third of people repeatedly check for the end of the program

Commercial Article

How many times a day do we return to the washing machine, check if the light is off, or wonder if we closed the fridge? Research among 1,050 people shows that most of us experience similar minor uncertainties. Smart appliances can monitor some of these for us, notify us about consumption or necessary maintenance, while still leaving the final decision to the person.

You surely know those “bad days”. You wake up on the wrong side of the bed, everything is a few minutes late.  During work, you run off to check the washing machine because those last two minutes have been showing for half an hour. When you finally leave, you return from the car because you’re not sure you turned off the lights. And upon returning home, you find that the eggs in the unclosed fridge enjoyed their own last-minute trip to the Maldives.

This is not the beginning of a post-apocalyptic book. In a recent survey of 1,050 people, 79.4 percent of respondents experienced at least one of the nine monitored situations within three months. Half reported two or more. The most common were uncertainty about whether an appliance was turned off (37.9 percent), an unclosed refrigerator or freezer (29.5 percent), and repeatedly checking if a washing program had finished (28.9 percent).

Uncertainty is the Most Tiring

Repeated checks perfectly illustrate how a small thing becomes another item on the mental checklist. 34% of women and 23.9% of men repeatedly checked for program completion. There’s no need to turn this into a household battle. But when a person is juggling work, shopping, extracurricular activities, and dinner, every “is it done washing?” takes another piece of energy. And yet, more than half of people are still unclear that devices from different brands can be connected and controlled in one application.

For example, in the SmartThings app, you can monitor the washing status and receive a notification upon completion. The refrigerator can alert you to an unclosed door, and the app will also remind you of necessary device maintenance. Forbid your eggs from going to the Maldives.

AI also has its place, but only where the appliance truly adapts. For selected Samsung washing machines, it can adjust the amount of water, detergent, or cycle duration based on the load, fabric type, and level of soiling. The AI Energy mode, in turn, allows monitoring consumption and actively reducing it for supported programs. Thus, technology doesn’t perform magic, but rather decides on specific settings that we would otherwise choose ourselves.

A Smart Home Should Not Decide For Us

The research shows that people want help. Only 8.9% would not want any help. Most often, they would entrust smart homes with monitoring consumption and energy-saving modes, checking turned-off appliances or doors, and maintenance notifications. At the same time, they want to have the final say. Those who dislike the idea of technology making decisions without their control chose mere recommendations and notifications almost three times more often than others. But even that means more time for themselves and less standing over the washing machine, wondering whether to set it to 30 or 40.

The main obstacle to wider adoption of smart appliances is still price. 22.1 percent of respondents cited it, while 15.1 percent indicated concerns about data misuse. However, a smart home doesn’t have to be built all at once. SmartThings allows supported devices to be added gradually. They don’t all have to be from one brand: the app supports compatible products labeled Works with SmartThings or Matter, and for appliances, also the HCA standard. Nevertheless, 55.7 percent of people are not precisely aware of this option or don’t know it at all. Security is also part of the connection. The Knox technology with authentication and encryption stands behind the secure control and monitoring of Samsung smart appliances.

Therefore, there’s no need for a household like Mrs. Weasley’s at The Burrow, where everything moves by itself. It’s perfectly enough if we get those few minutes extra, perhaps for another episode of a series.