I wrote this on July 24, 2017, as a series of tweets on Twitter.  Then, I moved it to a Tumblr blog that no longer exists.  It is about what happened when some random person connected their TV to a smart light bulb that was in the room where my cockatiels were sleeping.

I read “Smart Light Bulbs and Cockatiels” in episode 24 of my Words of Jen podcast.

Someone’s device or TV connected to the smart light bulb in the closet in the bird room. Cockatiels tweeted sounds of confusion.

The sounds coming from the light bulb started as music, and then sounds like a movie.  Cockatiels are not thrilled. They wanna sleep.

The movie sounds, by the way, were completely different from the podcast that Shawn was playing in the bedroom (and sleeping to).

This is not the first time the “smart” light bulb randomly found a nearby device and started streaming audio from it.  Usually, it’s music.

I turned off the light that has the “smart” light bulb. Hoped it would cut the connection.  Turned it back on.  Streamed more movie sounds.

So, now I’ve got five abruptly woken up cockatiels who could decide to go into freak out mode at any second because they don’t like change.

My solution, for now, is to turn off the “smart” bulb.  Turned on hallway light for cockatiels.  They are now happy and calm.

This scenario could be the start of a horror story about smart devices/smart homes gone wrong. “It started with the light bulb…”

I’m going to leave the “smart” light bulb off for an hour or two, then turn it back on and hope the movie is over by then.

This is amongst the strangest things I’ve had happen as a result of living in a mobile home park with homes close together.

Ok, so the cockatiels started to make frustrated noises because the hall light is too bright for their liking.

I turned on the “smart” light bulb again, while talking to the cockatiels so they won’t freak out too badly.  It seems the movie ended.

Smart Light Bulbs and Cockatiels is a post written by Jen Thorpe on Book of Jen and is not allowed to be copied to other sites.

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