ONIT Smart Home has been working with more and more homeowners to protect and automate their home and property through these trying times. However, there is a bright side. In the past 20 years, technological advancements have given us the world at our fingertips. Unlimited sources for movies, video content, the written word, history books, and cooking channels have inundated the internet. Delivery companies like GrubHub allow us to eat anything our heart desires, and you can pretty much order anything you want on Amazon. So while we might not be able to plan the perfect holiday vacation, in this state of temporary isolation, many of us can continue working, schooling and browsing with little interruption. But staying connected with friends and family is still important. Call, text, or connect through social media.
Connect Through Digital Groups
When you can’t share news in person, stay connected by finding an alternative way to share it. For example, it’s easy to set up a private Facebook page to keep your extended family connected. Think of it as an ongoing family newsletter. Instead of waiting to tell your cousins how things are going, you can tell them directly. If your neighborhood doesn’t have an online group, create one. It’s a new way to discuss neighborhood safety, track down a lost pet, or even catch a package thief. There are a range of popular platforms you can connect with your neighbors on. These include:
Not sure what to share? Start with a video. ONIT Smart Home can install a video doorbell or video cameras powered by Alarm.com. Now you capture everything from a baby’s first steps to a suspicious visitor at your door. You can post any clip directly to your new group using the Alarm.com app.
Online Video Chat
A group video chat on FaceTime can keep friendships fresh, even though you’re in different places. A new Google extension called Netflix Party is a great way to stay connected. This lets friends and family stream and video-chat through a movie together, with the ability to pause and play for everyone at once.
To make it easy for older adults to reach you, gift them an Alarm.com Wellcam for their home. It’s a video camera with two-way voice and a call-out button for connecting directly with no dialing required.
Schedule Time With the People You Love
When you work from home, a routine of doing your work and then going offline makes it easy to postpone the effort of staying connected. If this sounds like you, schedule time to connect with someone every day as if it were a work meeting. If your kids are home, schedule breaks and backyard PE lessons with them. Even a ten-minute game of catch can break up a mundane day and help your kids feel connected and reassured.
For evenings, schedule movie nights or game nights that you can all look forward to. Missing your workmates? Schedule a morning coffee break to boost camaraderie, decompress, and talk about non-work-related things.
Worried About Staying Safe in Your Home?
It’s important to stay connected on safety and wellbeing, especially with older adults or family members who might not speak up about a problem. Use these smart home security devices to protect the people you love at home:
- Wellness by Alarm.com. For older adults, consider Wellness by Alarm.com. Wellness connects their home to yours via smart home security technology, with smartphone alerts to let you know about important activity. You can get an alert if a parent doesn’t open their medication box in the morning, or if a contact sensor picks up unexpected activity at night. Wellness can even alert you to subtle activity changes that could indicate an emerging quality-of-life issue, enabling you to schedule a doctor’s visit before an emergency occurs.
- Security Cameras. Install security cameras throughout the inside of your home to monitor what’s going on in your house at all hours of the day. Maybe you’re working from home and notice your child has paused working on their homework. Use the camera’s two-way voice feature to tell them to get back to work. For complete home protection, mount security cameras along the exterior of your property. This is great for watching who’s approaching your driveway, what your kids are up to in the backyard, or who’s knocking over your precious lawn gnome.
- Smart Locks. Relax and live comfortably at home knowing unwanted visitors can’t get inside with smart locks. These let you lock or unlock your door from your phone. Create temporary access codes for contractors stopping by.
Greet Visitors at a Safe Distance
With the pandemic, the CDC is cautioning us to remain at least 6-feet from other people. We should still practice this measure when we’re answering our front door for package or food deliveries. And with a doorbell camera, it’s never been easier to keep a safe distance. With a smart device installed, like the Ring Doorbell Camera, you can use the two-way audio feature to answer your door and accept deliveries.
HD video quality and a wide field view lets you clearly see who is stopping by and with what. This means you don’t have to stop what you’re doing to answer the door. Most importantly, it reduces your physical contact but still lets you connect with visitors at your home.
Call ONIT Smart Home today to learn more about protecting, automating, and connecting your home with a smart home security system. For over ten years, we’ve been providing families and businesses with customizable security packages that are tailored to their needs. We work hard to make sure our customers can create a secure space for the family at a price they can afford. Call us today at 1-833-433-0331 to learn more about our 24/7 professionally monitored smart home security systems.