Technology never seems to stop evolving and our lives get more and more submerged in it. Especially with the COVID-19 pandemic having many people spending more time inside their homes, consumers start to learn more about smart devices and slowly turning their homes ‘smart’. Gradually, all the single devices, mobile or stationary, are getting connected to each other and can be controlled just by an app. But is it a good thing to live in a smart home?
The Pros of a smart home
Certainly, a smart home makes life so much more convenient and easier, especially in the times of this hectic society. After an 8-hours shift on the train to home, you can just turn on the heater in the winter and your home will be warm once you arrive. You can also link your media devices to each other so you can use them on whichever medium you would like to – no need to switch all the time!
You can step up the safety of your living space with advanced security systems designed for homes. Cameras, motion sensors and other things can be viewed either by yourself, by a security company or even the police. Although, the last two options do not seem to be that common for ordinary people with a smart home. But it is certainly a good thing that you will be able to check your cameras while you are away from your house. You can even let motion sensors send you notifications or warnings when it detects movement if you are not there.
Voice-command systems can make life easier for old or disabled people. Some people need a little more help and do not have the ability to do things easily like a healthy person could do. For an old person with some physical issues, getting out of bed because they forgot to switch the light off could be a hassle. By just one tap on an app they can turn it off. While some, especially older people, struggle with technology, it can improve their life.
The downside
Smart homes makes life more convenient, but it is not always all fun and games. When you start upgrading your home to a smart home, expect to pay A LOT of money. You will have to invest quite much in the beginning since smart appliances are high-technology. Depending on how many things you want to upgrade, connect and automate, the price will increase and it won’t be cheap. On top of that you have to make sure everything you purchase is compatible, unless you want to spend a lot of time and frustration trying to figure out how to connect some appliances that hate each other because they are produced by a different manufacturer.
The biggest downside is the part that you will have to sacrifice some of your privacy. Your home may be prone to hackers who attempt to spy on you or to rob you. A very disturbing hacking case happened in the home of a Milwaukee couple. Someone had hacked into their smart home and changed the temperature to above than 32 degrees Celsius. But that’s not everything, they played very disturbing music on high volume and even spoke to them through speakers.
It is important to always check on your devices and use strong passwords, preferably with a multi-factor authentication.
Would you like to turn your home into a smart home? Or have you already done so?
References
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/30/how-to-defend-your-smart-home-from-hackers-after-black-friday-buys.html
https://www.smartgrid.gov/the_smart_grid/smart_home.html
interesting article! I think the popularization of smart homes will definitely attract a new genre of robbery – or hackery. It also comes down to whether you want to let a company gain access to you in every aspect possible 24/7 (assuming that you are not building the smart system on your own). Personally, I would not mind making my living space cozier and more intelligent, but as you said, it would come with a huge price and what the market offers right now aren’t really student-budget-friendly.
I think installing cameras into my private space just would feel too violating for myself. I know that logically, “smart homes” are probably somewhat safer than just my blind belief/trust in people not breaking into my apartment, but it’s definitely an interesting topic to raise. I wonder if this is the future of security systems everywhere, and if one day this will become the new normal…
Interesting topic! I made my digital futurology presentation on Google Home, a brand with devices to make your own smart home. I want to add one thing to your downside ‘to make sure everything you purchase is compatible.’ From what I’ve gathered from my research on this topic, is that in 2019 the smart home companies of Google, Amazon, and Apple reported a partnership to have their smart home products work together. They want to achieve this with the smart home standard Matter. However, I believe that this function is now set to be released in 2022, so it is not out yet.
Good topic! I am very sceptic about smart home devices to make your home more “safe”. I would feel uncomfertable knowing I am watched 24/7 in my own home. Also, I would be afraid that security cams get hacked and other people can see what I am doing and could potentially talk to me, which had happended to cameras in children rooms before in the past. Next to this, there are also issues with the security of brands who make such smart home devices, allowing people to hack the system and access private data. I am for sure not ready yet to make my home smart!
I feel like one big advantage of using “smart” devices that is not really covered in the article is efficient resource utilization. Climate change is the biggest issue of our generation and a big part of it is thanks to inefficient use of resources. Smart devices can help us optimize their own functioning by providing a data feedback loop. With the use of data analysis, every smart device can make itself only enough energy as necessary. One example is only turning the heater on when the resident of the house is going to come out of bed, or turning off the lights after everybody has left.
I think this a very hot topic these days. However, personally I think I am not ready for a smart home and I hope I never will. We will get so extremely lazy if we don’t even have to switch the lights off ourselves. I do get that there are many advantages to a smart home, especially for elderly people. However, in the end I think that it is also a good thing to do things yourselves every now and then. Not everything has to get so easy and practical. I like to do things myself sometimes. Also, as it is still technology, sometimes it might be broken…
Lastly, I am curious what your own opinion on a smart house is?
Nice article! I think a smart home or at least a partially smart home would be great, I am very forgetful and being able to simply turn off lights and lock doors by scheduling them to do so or by asking my google home to do it for me would be a great way to save me time and trouble. I do worry about what that would mean for my safety because then someone could just hack my house and open the door… It definitely is a tricky thing to find the balance between comfort and safety.
This touches upon how I feel about smart homes – useful for some, frivolity for most. In my parents’ home, they have ‘smart’ curtains that open and close via remote control. Sounds nice, but over the years I have experienced:
Not being able to go to bed because the curtain battery needed to be changed.
Being woken up by someone else accidentally opening my curtain through several walls and doors.
Not being able to go to bed because the remote battery needed to be changed.
Half the time, it just not f*cking working.
So basically, as mentioned in your post, they spent a lot of money on something that isn’t really necessary for them and half of the time doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do. Never thought about them being hacked, but I guess it’s totally possible, too. But yeah, this post accurately sums up what I’ve been feeling about ‘smart’ tech. We do not need fridges that can tweet, we need things that do what they are designed to in simple and elegant ways.
Basically: reject ‘smart’ technology, return to analog curtain.