Who really benefits from smart tech at home? ‘Optimising’ family life can reinforce gender roles

By Indra Mckie, Postdoctoral Researcher in Collaborative Human-AI Interaction Culture, University of Technology Sydney

Have you heard of the “male technologist” mindset? It may sound familiar, and you may even know such people personally.

Design researchers Turkka Keinonen and Nils Ehrenberg have defined the male technologist as someone who is obsessed with concerns about energy, efficiency and reducing labour.

This archetype became apparent in my PhD research when I interviewed 12 families about their use of early domestic robots and smart home devices Amazon Alexa and Google Home. One father over-engineered…

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