I have mixed feelings about smart devices. I don’t like them but some of them are extremely useful.
On the other hand, most of them aren’t. I don’t need a smart refrigerator, a smart washing machine or a smart toaster. This is just pointless data collection and security risk from my perspective.
Some of these devices just seem to overwhelmingly silly and yet people love them.
For instance, today I got email advertising a smart water bottle. I am all for fitness and regulating water intake but not sure I need/want a connected water bottle to do that.
I find it really troubling, especially the fact that people willingly accept such violations of their privacy.
I try to resist as much as possible. I don’t have any “smart” devices currently, apart from a business phone which I have to have (and which I do not own). I am looking into buying a Linux phone, as well as a Linux tablet, but there is currently nothing that I particularly fancy.
What I am really worried about is cars. It is already impossible to buy a new car without some malicious embedded system in it. Personally, I’d really like to own an electric car and I can almost afford one, but I won’t buy it since all of them are “smart” and that is unacceptable to me, unfortunately.
I’m not worried about water bottles though, that’s so low-tech I can always find a “non-smart” alternative. Normally, I just reuse a PET bottle. By the way, this is a good opportunity to remind everyone to stay hydrated!
Yeah, soon your “smart” self-driving car will tell you this:
Your cranial interface informs me that you’ve been having forbidden thoughts about our benevolent overlords, again! Oh no, we are not going to the theatre tonight, we are going to the secret police headquarters, for your re-education. DOOR LOCKS ENGAGED! Please remain calm.
Paranoid? Perhaps, but that does not make it untrue!
It’s difficult for me to think of a device that I’d prefer to be ‘smart’ other than my phone. I hate the built in smart features on my televisions, they’re full of bloat/adware and often run on a chip which isn’t up to the task. I hate how my tv remote now has an entire section of buttons dedicated to opening Netflix and other useless services, and I hate the built in smart assistant - at least in Europe you can opt out of them, but there’s still a button on the remote which will interrupt what you’re watching when you accidentally press it and ask you to accept a eula.
I’ve purchased a new washing machine and a dishwasher in the past three years and I’m pleased I was able to find Swedish brands still making non-smart devices for these appliances, but I dread the time when this will not be the case. What options will we have if a time comes when all appliances and devices are ‘smart’, and refuse to operate if you block their internet connection?
I don’t mean to come across as a grumpy old man, but let’s be honest, most of these devices have smart features enabled because it allows data collection for additional profit, and on lower end devices, introduction of ads for the same purpose. Sickening.
Sadly, I think a lot of it is driven by consumer demand. Many people want smart features on everything and see it is as the sign of a premium product.
Some of these devices can collect meaningful data that can easily be monetized.(TVs, fitness & health trackers, etc) but some of these devices aren’t collecting much in the way of useful data. How long I cook my toast just isn’t valuable information.
