Samsung Says Moms Working From Home Should Be Enjoying It (seriously)

Working from homedoesn't feel entirely real.

A little like the world of advertising, perhaps.

Sometimes, advertisers want to make us believe that joy is within reach -- as long as we buy their infinitely joyous product, that is.

I wonder, though, how much joy moms working from home will feel on seeing Samsung suggest that earning a crust in their bedrooms and living rooms is so much fun. As long as you have a Galaxy Tab S7, that is.

Samsung's latest ad offers mom getting up at 7am and immediately leaping on her Tab and onto a Zoom call.

She then wakens her offspring and immediately puts the Tab in front of them to quieten them down. I'm sorry, I mean to let them watch cartoons.

I'm not sure what happens with her child next. Perhaps they read a little Tolstoy, but mom is busy designing a puffa jacket and preparing for a presentation.

She still has time to admonish her child for picking their nose.

One presumes the presentation goes well because mom has time to play video games with her son at lunchtime.

Next, her son becomes an unwitting model for the new jacket. Wait, when does this child do Zoom school? During the night? I only wonder because the kid seems to sleep through half the day.

The presentation goes swimmingly, while the moral of the story bathes in optimism: Work Is Better With Play.

Now, I'm not entirely opposed to play any more than I'm opposed to optimism, but I worry a little here.

I know of few moms working from home who have found having their children around to be one inordinate stream of amusement. (Even if, in this case, it's dad's turn to have so much fun the next morning.)

I know of many moms (and dads) who just wish the pandemic would end so that they can send those darned kids away and get back to working in relative peace.

This portrayal of home-spun entertainment and success feels like an unreasonable dreamworld conceived by overly lubricated ad people.

Last year, Apple had the relative decency to portray working from home as the ugly mess it can often be, especially when many people were tossed into it impromptu.

Perhaps, now that almost a year of working from home has arrived for many, they've worked out how to balance their work with their parenting.

I fear, though, that most know that it places an unreasonable burden on everyone involved.

Not even the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 can really help with that.