Nick Srnicek

As a means to outsource traditional household labour, digital platforms have been one of the most significant technological transformations in recent decades. They are not a reduction of work, of course, but rather a transfer of work from the household to the market

picture of the smart home future, imagine trying to fix a malfunctioning printer, forever. Households’ resident IT experts can expect plenty more to do as we enter an era of digital housework

Already in housework and childcare, men tend to do work that is more autonomous, less routine, and more engaging than that of their female partners.137 Much the same could be said of digital labour in the sphere of housework; those who lead on implementing smart home technologies often see it as a hobby – at least initially

As Judy Wajcman notes, ‘The drive to motorize all household tasks – including brushing teeth, squeezing lemons and carving meat – [was] less a response to need than a reflection of the economic and technical capacity for making motors.’

While capacities for extending free time may have grown, social norms, standards, and expectations have evolved in such a way that these advances are minimised

it is our contention that restrictive norms should not be allowed to petrify around reproductive labour and that ideas about socially acceptable living standards should be revisited. The post-work imaginary should be as excited by the prospect of high-quality canteens as it is about labour-intensive home-cooked meals

the idea that women wanted washing machines because they saved labour [was] lost in stereotypes of women as acquisitive, emotional, frivolous, and houseproud’

Guilt became a way to sell goods, and women’s identities became increasingly tied into this work as well. Cleaning became ‘an expression of the housewife’s personality and her affection for her family’

A dirty house was a sign of failure and caring as a practice was increasingly conflated with being caring as a disposition

The rise of ‘cleanfluencers’ is another emergent normative trend, positioning housework as a kind of self-care or therapeutic wellbeing trend