○One of my many guilty pleasures lurks in my former home’s Facebook group. A New York apartment complex is home to small town residents. Naturally occurring retirement community, which means there are many people in the group who have time and energy to spend on petty conflicts. Gossip is unparalleled and often a bit volatile. At one point there was a heated discussion that went like this: pigeon contraception At least one person was banned as a result.
A kind of mania has been sweeping the group lately. An influential neighbor belatedly learned about the video doorbell. Once he bought the device, others bought it and began obsessively monitoring the device to check for package theft. Now, every other post on Facebook appears to be a photo of an unlucky stranger taken with a video doorbell, complete with a panicked caption that reads “stranger danger.”
“This person with a huge bag was standing outside my door for several minutes!!!” one post read. “Watch out!!!” Someone chimed in a few hours later, explaining that the suspicious intruder had no malicious intent. The delivery man just got lost. Crisis averted.
“Watch out for this guy!” another post advised, along with a close-up of someone’s face. “He was checking every door on my floor!” Later, the person in question, a bewildered building resident, explained that they weren’t trying to rob anyone, just wondering where the annoying noises were coming from. clarified that he was just trying to find out who was doing it. Further crisis was averted.
I’m not judging anyone. Not only are video doorbells an ethical minefield and a surveillance nightmare, they can also drive you crazy quickly. Video doorbell confusion syndrome is a surprisingly common condition that includes symptoms such as paranoia, anxiety, and an obsession with spying on people in your neighborhood. I have also used the brush myself. I once did a forensic analysis of a video file to find out which neighbors were dumping trash outside my house on trash day. So, while video doorbells are useful for avoiding Jehovah’s Witnesses, I think they’re for birds. By the way, who probably shouldn’t be on birth control?
Source: www.theguardian.com
