Watches
I never saw the point of them. I don’t see the problem with analog or digital watches. Everything is regressed to a tiny square of a screen, that you barely look at. I just find it as an unnecessary distraction.
Light Bulbs
I work in retail and I stock these things all of the time. We have light bulbs, that are smart now because why? They’re stuffed with wireless functionality, just so you can simply change a color or maybe dim it through phone. More unnecessary apps, more unnecessary functions just for cheap attraction.
Kitchen Appliances
I’m bundling them all here.
There is nothing you’re gaining an advantage of, when slapping a screen on any appliance and relying on some unsupported app on your phone for basic functions.
All of those have uses.
They add convenience in various ways. It’s kinda neat that my fridge can text me to say the door is open or the filter is due (but I don’t have it connected).
Smart watches have barely anything to do with telling time; they’re remote terminals for your phone for communication in both directions. Think like not holding you phone while exercising, checking if a text is urgent, tracking your steps, or dismissing timers. I don’t have one.
Smart bulbs let you have much more control over your lighting. Have 6 overhead lights over your TV room? Shut the opens over the screen, dim the rest. You can’t do that with a normal switch on a single circuit, like most homes will have. Best you can do is dim them all together with a dimmer switch. Sure, it also let’s people be extra lazy by not getting up at all. I don’t have any.
It’s really easy to see how these smart features add convenience. I hate them because they usually come with atrocious security and privacy flaws. Worse, many are specifically sold as spying devices under the guise of convenience. THAT is why when smart devices are the only/best option, I don’t connect them. And if setup seems to demand connectivity, I change my wifi password, connect and setup, then change it back.
Yeah, the post reads like a rant from someone who can’t put themselves in the shoes of someone else, so it has to be completely worthless.
I guarantee you dont need 95% of “smart” (I fucking hate that term) devices.
Its wasteful, anti security, and gives corporations more control than they should ever have.
The sole reason they exist is because we peaked in the ways corporations can make money. You CANT make a good washing machine that lasts and does it’s job in capitalist society. It must make quarterly profits either by being un repairable and forcing the owner to buy another, or harvesting data, or forcing subscriptions for shit the device already has built in.
Smart bullshit is just the 2010 version of shoving ai slop unto every possible thing that doesn’t need it. No difference.
I’d actually add that one of the biggest uses for so many “unnecessary” devices is opening up ability/convenience to people with various disabilities. Practically every worthless “as seen on TV” gadget has a niche use for someone. Jar openers help arthritis. Pouring gadgets help people with reduced motor control. Smart bulbs help people who are in pain whenever they get up.