There is a school of thought that suggests home security to protect against burglars, fires, and any other unforeseen catastrophe is more attractive to older homeowners. This is because it appeals to their desire to protect their investments in expensive electronics, computers, guns, art, and coins, as well as the house itself. 

This same school of thought says that home automation appeals to a younger, perhaps hipper, crowd because of its focus on cool technology, accessible from smart-phones and designed to control home theater equipment, automatic door and window locks, and interior and exterior lighting. 

Sage wisdom suggests that neither way of thinking about home security and home automation has to be entirely right, or entirely wrong. There isn’t a one-size fits all stance when it comes to these two enhancements.

 While it’s true that the desire to protect your home, belongings, and family against potential disaster does increase with age, this isn’t the only factor that drives the desire to provide a safer home. Increased crime in the area, an overall sense of feeling secure, and a desire for reduced home insurance premiums hits home with all age groups. 

The same holds true for home automation. Gadgets and leading-edge technology may indeed be a younger person’s game, as they say, but not all home automation has to be the “gee whiz” kind that ultimately could take longer to setup and execute than the amount of time it saves. Optimizing central heating and air, remotely turning lights off and on, and even controlling your automatic sprinkler system are all forms of home automation that don’t necessarily appeal to just one age group. 

So, what exactly is http://www.yourlocalsecurity.com/security-tips/? In short, it’s a means of checks and balances, assisted by modern technology, to protect your  home, possessions, and family against things like:

•          Home invasion
•          Theft and burglary
•          Fire, flood, and burst pipes
•          Carbon monoxide poisoning 

With the assistance of monitored home security equipment, homeowners can protect against these things though the use of:

•          Door and window sensors
•          Motion detectors
•          Medical pendants (panic buttons)
•          Wireless remotes controls to arm and disarm security systems
•          Fire and smoke detectors
•          Carbon monoxide sensors
•          Wireless cameras
•          Flood detectors
•          Control Panels with two-way hands-free communication
•          Interior and exterior lighting 

In short, protecting your with these methods, are all in the realm of home security. 

So, how does home automation differ? In a nutshell, home automation is just as it suggests. Electronic control systems help homeowners automate certain tasks, and give them to power to control these things in ways that make sense to them, such as:·         Computer-based applications

•          Third-party website access
•          Laptop computers
•          Smartphones, PDAs, and iPads 

Need to turn on some exterior lighting because you’ll be returning home after dark? You can do this with home automation. Through any number of home automation solutions, such functionality is readily available on most of the portable devices people carry today, and is as simple as launching any other interactive app on your smartphone or desktop computer. 

Home automation can also provide homeowners with such solutions as:

•          Remote control of video surveillance equipment
•          Remote control of automatic door and window locks
•          Turning appliances on and off
•          Optimization of central heating and air equipment
•          Control over interior and exterior lights
•          Remote management of Digital Video Recorders and other electronics 

For homeowners looking to have a little more control over certain electronic and electrical systems in their homes, then look no further than the wide range of home automation solutions provided by an ever-evolving industry. 

By Ryan Avila,