The holiday season is supposed to be a time of joy, togetherness, and making memories with loved ones. However, Amazon’s Alexa devices can inadvertently cause some headaches during this busy time of year if not handled properly. With some planning and proactive steps, you can prevent Alexa from ruining your Christmas celebrations.
Understand How Alexa Works
To stop Alexa from being disruptive, it helps to understand what she is capable of. Alexa is an artificial intelligence-powered virtual assistant created by Amazon. She responds to voice commands given to Echo and other Alexa-enabled devices. Some of her key features include:
- Playing music
- Setting alarms and timers
- Controlling smart home devices
- Providing information from the web
- Making purchases on Amazon
Alexa is always listening for her name (“Alexa”, “Echo”, “Computer”) to be spoken aloud. She then records your voice and sends it to Amazon’s servers to analyze the request and formulate a response. This constant listening capability means you need to be thoughtful about where you place your Alexa devices and what you say around them.
Be Careful with Placement
One of the easiest ways to prevent Alexa disruption is to carefully consider where you put your Alexa-enabled devices in your home. Here are some placement tips:
- Avoid high-traffic areas like entryways where guests may accidentally trigger Alexa.
- Keep Alexa out of rooms where noise should be minimal, like bedrooms.
- Place Alexa in a discreet location during gift opening or other surprises where you don’t want premature spoilers.
- Face Echo devices away from areas where substantial conversations/noise occurs.
- For parties, consider moving Alexa to a private room or turning off the microphone.
Take time to think through your home’s layout and where accidental Alexa activations are most likely. Position her accordingly to limit disruptions.
Use Do Not Disturb Mode
One of Alexa’s handiest features for the holidays is Do Not Disturb mode. When enabled, this setting temporarily turns off Alexa’s listening capabilities. She will not respond to her name or other requests until this mode is disabled again.
Do Not Disturb is excellent for times when you don’t want any Alexa interruptions. Some smart ways to use it include:
- Turning it on during gift opening when kids may excitedly yell requests to Alexa.
- Enabling it during holiday meals so conversation flows smoothly.
- Using it when guests who aren’t familiar with Alexa are visiting.
- Having it on by default during your family’s daily quiet/sleeping hours.
You can say “Alexa, turn on Do Not Disturb” or use the mute button on an Echo device. Specify a time limit or turn off manually later. Consider adding this to your holiday routine.
Adjust Alexa’s Sensitivity
Another way to prevent Alexa from barging into conversations uninvited is to adjust her wake word sensitivity setting. This controls how easily Alexa recognizes her name being spoken.
If Alexa is constantly waking up when you don’t intend to summon her, dial back the sensitivity. Look for this under Device Settings in the Alexa app or say “Alexa, turn down your wake word sensitivity.”
You can also make Alexa’s wake word longer by changing it from just “Alexa” to “Amazon Alexa.” This naturally reduces accidental activations.
Set Up Routine Schedules
Routines allow you to automate multiple Alexa actions with a single voice command. This can be useful for enabling/disabling certain settings on a schedule during the holidays.
Some routine ideas include:
- Having Alexa wish you a Merry Christmas at 8am on Dec. 25
- Turning on multi-room festive music daily at 6pm
- Entering Do Not Disturb mode every night at 10pm
Schedules help make your preferred Alexa modes activitate automatically at important times without manual effort.
Use Alexa Guard
Another way to benefit from Alexa’s capabilities during the holidays without disruption is by enabling Alexa Guard. This is an optional home security feature that makes Alexa listen for potential smoke alarms, glass breaking, or carbon monoxide alarms when you’re away.
Since it only works while everyone is out of the house, it prevents any Alexa voice interactions from occurring at the wrong moments. But it provides peace of mind that your home and gifts are protected.
Just say “Alexa, I’m leaving” when you go out to activate this mode. Alexa Guard is a Prime member exclusive feature.
Communicate Expectations with Family
To help minimize unwanted disruptions from Alexa this Christmas, talk with your family about your expectations.
Here are some tips for this discussion:
- Explain when and where you permit Alexa interactions.
- Share your household rules for Alexa around bedtimes, meals, gatherings, etc.
- Review how to use Alexa politely, such as saying please and thank you.
- Demonstrate how to change settings like Do Not Disturb.
- Encourage questions/feedback about how to improve Alexa experiences.
Involving your family creates shared accountability and thoughtful usage. Make sure young kids understand the basics. Post reminders of guidelines as needed.
Set Up Voice Profiles
To prevent unauthorized Alexa purchases and requests, use Amazon voice profiles. These allow only recognized users to access Alexa.
Add a voice profile for each person by reading a few on-screen sentences in the Alexa app. Then require a voice profile PIN to shop or make transactions. You can also set up voice recognition for kids.
This safeguard is especially important during the holidays when houses are busy with guests. Limit access to minimize misuse.
Review Privacy Settings
Take some time this Christmas season to examine your Alexa devices’ privacy settings. Having the right options enabled will help prevent surprises.
Consider these suggestions:
- Turn off Alexa Calling/Messaging if you don’t want guests contacting anyone.
- Disable skills you don’t want others accessing.
- Clear voice history and delete past recordings.
- Disable Amazon shopping if you don’t want orders placed.
- Select which smart home devices Alexa can access.
Adjust settings through the Alexa app to match your comfort level. Also review options for Alexa voice profiles and kids accounts.
Utilize Parental Controls
Parental controls allow you to restrict what content kids can access on Alexa devices. This is helpful for preventing exposure to inappropriate music, skills, shopping, and device usage.
Enable parental controls by opening the Alexa app, selecting Settings > Account Settings > Amazon Parental Controls. Link your Amazon Household Profile if you have one.
You can then filter explicit songs, block shopping, limit time usage per day, and view activity. Adapt restrictions as needed to suit your family.
Unplug Alexa When Needed
There are certain high-stakes situations when you may want to completely disable Alexa’s ability to disrupt things. In these cases, a simple solution is to unplug your Alexa devices altogether.
Some examples where you should consider unplugging include:
- Gift opening mornings when surprises need to stay secret.
- During proposals, romantic moments, or family game night.
- When sneaking around filling stockings late at night.
- During an important phone call you don’t want interrupted.
- When friends unfamiliar with Alexa are visiting.
You can easily replug Alexa back in after the moment passes. Just be sure to allow sufficient boot-up time when ready.
Use Accessories That Disable Alexa
Some products exist that provide a quick way to manually disable Alexa without completely unplugging devices. These include:
- Echo Microwave: Push-to-talk button prevents picking up conversations accidentally.
- Echo Flex Plug: Built-in microphone off switch for temporary disabling.
- Echo Privacy Button: Connects to any Echo to turn off its mics instantly.
If you regularly need to mute Alexa during holidays for privacy or surprise reasons, these can be handy tools to have.
Conclusion
With some planning and appropriate use, Amazon Alexa can delight rather than disrupt your Christmas celebrations this year. Be thoughtful about placement, leverage do not disturb settings generously, and set clear expectations with your family. Have Alexa work for you by automating helpful holiday routines and leveraging convenient security features while away. By taking a proactive approach, you can prevent Alexa from ruining your most wonderful time of the year. The holidays create special family memories, so put Alexa in her place and focus on the moments that matter most.