The Echo Family: Intercoms of Today

I lived in envy of some of my friend’s homes in the 80s. There it was. On their walls in all its glory. We would be studying or playing Uno or some other game, and the announcement came from the wall. “Dinner’s ready! Time to eat!” Or “It’s getting late, we need to get you back to your folks.” it wasn’t the announcement. No. It was the delivery. All made possible by the glorious intercom system on the wall. It wasn’t anything overly fancy, but it seemed to glow like an electronic jewel to me.

intercom system of the 80s

I swore to myself, one day, I too would have an intercom system. Thanks to Amazon, I do. Years back, when Echo made its debut, I received one early at a discounted rate. I loved it. It played music, answered questions, and I’m sure the NSA has heard its fair share of stuff said at our house. And then came the Echo dot. So I bought several, to share the love with the kids and have a cute Pandora speaker for wherever I happened to be in he house. But the developers didn’t stop there. They created skills and helped me reach my own intercom dreams. With the power of Drop In, I can use the echo as an intercom, and speak directly from the family room echo with one of the bedroom echo dots. Or I can use the Alexa app to Announce that dinner is ready from the kitchen, and it will announce to all the echo devices in our household. Like is a beautiful thing. And the Echo is far cuter than any of those retro intercom units.