>Smart home living

Jennifer Phin explores the fine line between technology love and hate

>>> Do you have a best worst gadget? Or a worst best gadget? You know; something so badly designed or quirky that you curse its existence, yet without it you’d be bereft? It’s like being stuck in a terrible relationship that you can’t bear to leave. My “boyfriend-from-hell” is a set of AcousticSheep Wireless SleepPhones. I hate them, I love them, I threaten to kick them to the kerb on a regular basis, yet when they disappear, I am frantic.

The SleepPhones were a gift; I like falling asleep listening to Bill Bryson audiobooks (edgy stuff, right?), but our new baby had no interest in learning about how likely she is to be killed by a bear on the Appalachian Trail. So I got these clever headphones – low profile, built into a fabric headband and Bluetooth enabled, so I can turn over in my sleep without getting tangled in wires. But the headphones are also a source of brainache. I have to remember to charge them, which means rummaging inside the headband and extracting the battery pack, which in turn dislodges the earpieces, so I spend whole evenings poking blindly around, positioning them just right for my ears again.

I curse at the SleepPhones. But I can’t sleep without them. A few weeks ago, I insisted my family turn the house upside down to help me look for them. We found them in the laundry basket, and I greeted them like one of those YouTube dogs whose owners return from Afghanistan.

Gadgets, like people, are flawed. They can be needy or irritating, and sometimes they hide in the laundry basket. But, like your high school sweetheart, the good stuff helps you forgive and forget the bad stuff. I love you, SleepPhones.