Last week, I heard something beeping somewhere in my house. It occurred every 60 seconds or so, making it difficult to track where the sound was coming from. Plus, the ambient noise – ticking and chiming of pendulum clocks, whooshing of the heater, pinging of the microwave, and music blasting from a Sonos speaker – drown out the intermittent beeping.

Finally, I tracked down the sound. It was a digital meat thermometer my husband used the night before, and then tossed in the drawer.

Even though I live in the country, I’m inundated by a cacophony of noise, emulating from within my house.

Sitting at my desk, writing about the Internet of Thinks (IoT), I can’t help cringing at the thought of adding more “stuff” that beep, ping, vibrate, chime, and ding. My kitchen includes a black induction cooktop, which one of my cats regularly mistakes for a heating pad. When she lies on the controls, the stove emits a loud buzz, which doesn’t dissuade her from moving. Instead, it jolts me from a sound sleep to race down the hallway, and scold the offender.

My microwave and oven are equally bossy. Because their circuitry is tied together, you need to punch the right sequence of buttons to operate; otherwise, they beep and bark, scrolling instructions across their display.

Adding to the symphony in the kitchen is the coffee pot, refrigerator, digital thermometer, bread machine, and rice maker. The latter hums a charming tune when it’s done.

Around the corner is my LG washer and dryer, which can be controlled by my smart phone, and are equally musical, playing a tune instead of sounding a buzzer when they’ve completed their duties.

On my wrist is an iFIT band, which connects to my NordicTrack, and vibrates throughout the day, reminding me to get up and move. It can also be programmed to vibrate me awake, and if I invested in a more expensive model, notify me of incoming emails and instant messages.

As an IoT-enabled device, it tracks everything I do throughout the day. Fortunately, it doesn’t have a way to know what I eat, or else, it’d be squealing how I exceeded my daily caloric intake based on my activity level.

Adding to the hum (and flashing lights) are our PCs, home server, Kindle, printers, smart phones, an old flip phone, which is used as an alarm clock, and a host of smaller electronics. Even our TV “set-up” is a concerto with a remote to turn on the TV, and an Xbox and controller to connect to Amazon and Netflix.

While last week, I couldn’t imagine adding another device to our already “beeping” house, it took just a few minutes for me to unbox and set-up a Google Home Mini I received as a gift on Friday night. Now along with my singing rice maker, buzzing cooktop, and vocal microwave, I can shout “Hey Google, play Grandma Got Runover by a Reindeer.” And miraculously it’ll start blasting holiday music, then add a holiday channel to my Pandora playlist, while my Sonos speaker in the other room, unperturbed, continues playing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.

Having a “beeping” house isn’t all bad!

Thanks to Alejandro Alvarez (@a2foto) for the great photo off Unsplash