I Love My Video Doorbell... As a Way to Spy on Myself

Video doorbells are a great idea, in theory. You can see who’s at your door, when the mail or a package has been delivered, and who is yelling, running their noisy old car for 15 minutes, or not picking up dog poop (those last three are specifically for me, I hope you don’t have a noisy car runner/yeller/poop nuisance at your house). But video doorbells, particularly Ring Doorbells, are a part of the police state, and if you thought people on NextDoor were bad, you have never seen the Ring message boards. I had a Ring Doorbell, but it never worked well AND it became a tool for racism and police, so I ditched it. I wasn’t inadvertently helping police anymore, but I did miss knowing who was at the door, and whether or not the mail had been delivered yet, so I got another video doorbell, this time from Eufy.

I chose the Eufy because it was Wirecutter’s top pick for video doorbells at the time (it’s now second place), and because it required no monthly fees, all video is stored locally, AND if anyone wants footage from my doorbell they have to get my express permission. The one I got isn’t easily available anymore, but you can get it directly from Eufy, or a refurbished one from Amazon, or what I think is a newer model of the same device at Best Buy. The doorbell comes with a plug in chime, which was also a plus. I love my video doorbell and I use it all the time, but not for snooping on my deliveries or neighborhood goings on. I use it to check on myself.

Let me explain.

You know when you do something every day, and it is such a part of your routine that you don’t even remember doing it? Feeding the dog, putting your keys in the bowl by the door, turning off a light - the things that you know you did, but you also can’t recall doing them, and honestly did you? Really? This is the scenario I find myself in when it comes to locking the front door.

I’m often thinking far ahead of my current actions. If I’m going to run an errand, I’m not thinking, “Do I have that package I need to mail?” I’m thinking, “What route am I going to take?” I’m too far ahead! Plus, locking the door behind me isn’t something that needs my undivided attention. I just do it and move on. But then I’m off on my little errands and I think, “Did I lock the front door?” and I have NO IDEA. I’ve never NOT locked the front door, but I can’t recall actually doing it, so DID I? This is where the video doorbell comes in. I pull up the Eufy app on my phone, and I watch myself leave the house. And lock the door.

How many miles in my car, gallons of gas, stress about safety, and anxiety over missing memories has this trick saved me? I don’t know. A lot. And THIS is the number one reason why I am pro-video doorbell.