This article by DEV community stated that 19% of remote workers state loneliness as their most significant work related problem. Due to the longer amount of time this user group spends at home, I believe smart home technology could greatly help to alleviate this problem, a possible solution being to create a local community of smart home users, to promote cooperation and a sense of collectiveness between members of a community, including home workers.
The article also suggested working together with other remote workers. With future technology, this could even be improved so that many users from anywhere in the world can work together in a vr space, much like if they were really in an office.
https://dev.to/ginoferrand/remote-work-can-be-isolating-but-that-can-be-fixed-426c
This forum post also gave some insight into the current state of smart home technology with regards to energy saving.
“You’ll spend more on smart devices than you’ll save on energy usage”
“Home automation is best considered a quality of life thing”
As of now, the forum was of the opinion that the cost of owning and running smart devices does not balance well against the energy saved through using them. This could indicate a need for a system of sharing devices, perhaps through a subscription service where power generators like solar panels and kinetic energy tiles are included, as well as use of smart devices owned by the local community.
https://www.reddit.com/r/UKPersonalFinance/comments/vjn8pf/saving_energy_by_using_smart_home_devices/
This week I watched Alex McDowell’s Future of Storytelling video. I found it interesting how when making the worlds used in his films, he consulted with real users, scientists and historians to create believable but fantastical elements of his worlds. In my opinion this parallels the process of speculative design in which research is conducted into current and possible future user needs, and current solutions are developed upon for possible application to deal with the future problem when it emerges. I also was intrigued by how these methods of storytelling have been used in the real world to solve serious problems.