https://naveenarun.wordpress.com/2023/08/31/doing-laundry-on-campus-without-a-phone/ * Home * About * RSS Doing Laundry on Campus Without a Phone Aug 31, 2023 Uncategorized A Graduate Student's Attempt to Find Sunshine as the Cloud Reigns Summary: I tried doing my laundry without a smartphone. This proved to be difficult, since our laundry machines can only be operated with a smartphone app. After lots of struggle, I finally managed to do it, leading me to reflect on whether technology is actually making our lives better. Ah yes, laundry. The chore that has plagued humanity ever since the invention of clothes. Some find it to be therapeutic - a time to relax, to sink into the calming motions of tending to the machines and neatly folding warm clothes as they come out of the dryer. Others, like me, perform the task begrudgingly, with tacit acknowledgement that avoidance of the chore will lead us to spiral into the gloomy depths of hygieneless living and funk-filled odors. Despite these two views on the task, one thing has remained constant about it throughout the years: the necessity of manual labor. No matter humanity's attempts to automate the motions of washing, scrubbing, and folding, it is an iron rule that the act of cleaning one's clothes requires a combination of motions such as keeling down, bending over, and/or moving laterally. Yet, all this seemingly senseless self-contortion still carries with it some merit, at least in my mind: as long as humans can tumble and move, laundry will continue to be possible. Whether it is snowing, raining, or shining outside, it will always be within the powers at one's disposal to engage in the chore of cleaning clothes (or at least outsource it to one who is able) by choosing to exert the manual labor required to perform it. And thus, I find laundry to be the great leveler of humankind. However, in recent years, the democratizing force of washing and drying has taken a darker turn. One would believe that as technology has developed and improved our lives, chores such as laundry would become more straightforward and less complicated - that more people would be able to maintain the integrity of their wardrobes by virtue of modern conveniences. Little did Jacob Christian Schaffer and Henry Sidgier, the forefathers of the washing machine in the late 1700s, expect that their great invention would backfire one day - that just a few centuries later, their device would not equalize the differences among humans, but rather serve as an omnipresent reminder that life's simplest tasks require not only a mobile device, but WiFi as well. Circa 2020, my graduate dorm (Sidney Pacific, also affectionately known as SidPac) installed new washing machines that use an app called "Washlava". The new washing machines rely on users having the app installed, so that they can reap the benefits of having a digitally connected laundry ecosystem. No longer do you have to carry around coins - you can pay via credit card or TechCash using the app! You can monitor the status of your laundry machines using the SidPac website! How cool! Previously, we did laundry by scanning our MIT ID cards at a central terminal to activate a washing machine, or just paid directly using coins. Isn't it a blessing that we can do laundry slightly faster using our phones? Unfortunately, this workflow breaks down when one of its key components - the smartphone - is not available. A few months ago, I decided to limit my phone use - which led me to ultimately ditch my smartphone for almost all purposes. Although this was difficult at first (what would I do if someone calls me? How would I make emergency calls? How would I log into services that require two-factor authentication?), I found many a workaround. For calls and texts, I moved to WhatsApp for the computer. For logging into websites, I got a YubiKey which obviates the need for SMS-based two-factor authentication. For emergency calls, I got a luxury Razr flip phone without a SIM card to carry around, which added many style points to boot. However, one stubborn task remained impossible for me to perform without whipping out the little digital devil that is my Samsung S10: laundry. One day, I was so insistent on doing my laundry without a smartphone that I even considered doing my laundry off-campus so that I could avoid having to deal with Washlava. So imagine my surprise when I learned that Washlava indeed *does* provide an option for users without a phone. You can actually check out an iPod Touch, generously provided by Washlava and SidPac, to open the Washlava app and perform your laundry. Score! I went down to the SidPac front desk and asked our wonderful front desk worker, Andrea, to borrow the fabled Laundry iPod (which shall henceforth be named the "Laundry Pod"). As it turns out, I was the first person in SidPac history to request the procurement of this device. When Andrea finally found the abandoned relic, she dreadfully noted that the Laundry Pod was out of battery. However, being the angel that she is, she offered to give me the Laundry Pod and its charger so that I could joyfully perform laundry at my own convenience. Elated that my problem had been solved, I plugged the Laundry Pod into the provided USB-to-Lightning connector and began my temporary battery-level-watching vigil. When the Laundry Pod finally gained consciousness, little did I expect to encounter yet another challenge: a password screen. After a couple failed attempts to guess the password, I admitted defeat and dejectedly retreated to the front desk to request the password. After obtaining it, the Laundry Pod was finally available to be used as I pleased. After this the laundry process went smoothly, right? Nope. My next hurdle was logging into Washlava. When I first made my Washlava account, I had used my personal gmail and a temporary password that I intended to change later. My Android had always logged me in automatically after that, so I never got around to changing my password and never had to log in after the first time. Thus, lacking practice in the art of presenting my credentials to Washlava, I found that I was unable to log in. Yet I remained unfazed in the face of such adversity, as I knew one comfort would always be by my side: the "Forgot Password" button. As I made one last-ditch attempt to guess my password, I decided it was time to press the sacred button of last resort. Unfortunately, this turned out to be futile: on the iPod Touch, the keyboard cannot be retracted to uncover the "Forgot Password" text, meaning that it is effectively impossible to click it. Despondent (and passwordless), I continued in vain with my attempts to guess my password, until finally - miraculously! - I was able to log in. Now armed with the keys to the castle, I began to feel a smug sense of victory over the app. Despite its attempts to keep me from the coveted ability to do laundry, I overcame all the adversity it set forth before me. Nothing could stop me now - I made the impossible possible. After hauling my laundry down to the laundry room, basking in the glory of my achievements, I was impaled with yet another shock: I had insufficient funds to do laundry. Anticipating a deluge of new challenges, I anxiously proceeded to dismiss the message. And guess what? The laundry machine sprung to life! And I didn't even have to pay a penny! Some may call this luck, but I consider it to be a sign from the universe that things were finally working in my favor. Thankfully, the rest of the process continued smoothly. I was able to dry my clothes without a hitch, and at the end of the day, I logged out of my Washlava account so that the next user of the Laundry Pod wouldn't mistakenly use my funds by accident. As much as I would've liked to procrastinate drying my clothes, I unfortunately had to finish early. Like Cinderella at the ball, I had a deadline at midnight: the Laundry Pod needed to be returned before the front desk closed. Gracefully, I made it - with over 30 minutes to spare. Now, as I stare into the black mirror of my dead smartphone, wearing my clean clothes, I take some time to reflect on the world that has made laundry such a logistically challenging task. An entire network of services needed to be in operation for me to be able to wash my clothes without a smartphone! Maybe this isn't the world that Christian Schaffer and Henry Sidgier imagined when they invented the washing machine, and maybe it's for the better. But reflecting on the world we created gives us an opportunity to reflect on our collective humanity, and decide once and for all: is this the path we wish to pursue? 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