Alexa and other home technology - pros and cons

Whoever claims otherwise and doesn't even have arguments for it

Facts don't require arguments, only opinions do.

On topic: I think it makes sense to put switches on the exterior walls

For facts, no arguments are needed, only for opinions.



On-topic: I think it makes sense to put switches on the outside walls

But then please also switches that everyone "understands". My brother-in-law has some kind of smart home for his lights in his house, but also with switches.

Example guest bathroom: a square switch and every time I play bingo with it because I am there too rarely to remember what I have to press how often and exactly where.
1. The skylight only lights up as it should (Jackpot)
2. Only the bathroom mirror (enough to find the way to the toilet)
3. FLOODLIGHT (wait a moment until your eyes get used to it)
4. The infrared heater turns on and no light at all (worst case scenario, because then I first have to figure out how to turn it off again)

Tina, smart means clever, witty in German. So operating these switches requires certain prerequisites, which unfortunately I do not have.

I also use home automation myself, not because it’s so great to press a button on the smartphone instead of operating the light with a switch, but because many things can be automated, e.g., lights/shutters according to the sun’s position, etc. That is also reassuring on vacation when you can simulate presence.

However, I would never think of using Alexa or similar for that. For the same reasons as almost all previous commenters. The FBI wonders every time why Steffen always wants to turn off the fridge.

Speaking of fridge: when a fridge is too loud while I’m watching TV, I usually see three options: 1) I turn the TV even louder and regret having bought this fridge 2) I admit having bought the wrong fridge and pay attention to the usual dB specifications next time 3) finally arrived in my own home, I could live it out and simply banish the fridge to another room?

Why is the discussion actually only about Alexa? What about Payback and all other discount systems? What about Facebook/WhatsApp and the like? What about the location services from Google and Apple that record our movement patterns daily? Etc. We reveal all kinds of data about ourselves daily in large quantities. At most, a tiny fraction of the population really pays attention to all the data.

Everyone loudly demands data protection (also here in the forum), but no one can actually protect their data properly - unless they give up all technical gadgets.

And honestly: I couldn’t care less whether Alexa is listening in or not.

Why does the discussion actually only revolve around Alexa?

Because it was outsourced from another topic

Example guest bathroom: a square switch and I play bingo with it every time because I am too rarely there to remember what I have to press how often and where exactly.

I will surely be pelted with tomatoes again, but in a smart home a guest bathroom should do completely without a switch. Because the guests have nothing to press there. The light should turn on when you are there and off when you leave, done.

So operating these switches requires certain conditions, which unfortunately I do not have either.

It has to be intuitive and actually you shouldn’t really have to press anything. Which also works for the most part in everyday life. It’s only the exceptions where you then need switches/buttons.