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.
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I disagree on the smart watches, but I know I’m in the minority in how I use them. They actually help me disconnect from my phone better because only select apps send notifications to my watch, so if I get a vibration on my wrist, I check, see if it needs action or not, then move on with my life. In my work I often get messages that need immediate action, but I’m often in situations where I can’t be distracted in the moment, so smart watches have been super helpful.
As for all the fitness features or app control, etc. etc, I don’t really care. It’s nice that I can control my music, I played around with using it as a remote for my camera, but really, all I need is good, controlled notifications on my wrist for ambient awareness.
Pebble watches have always been the best and I’m eagerly awaiting my Pebble Time 2
Definitely agree on the bulbs though. Having color control or a dimmer is great but doesn’t need to be an app.
Agree, my smart watch has stopped me grabbing my phone all the time and helps me get less distracted.
Pebbles were the best. Having one taught me a lot about the best tech not having all the bells and whistles. It’s better to have only what you need done well.
I disagree on the smart watches, but I know I’m in the minority in how I use them. They actually help me disconnect from my phone better because only select apps send notifications to my watch, so if I get a vibration on my wrist, I check, see if it needs action or not, then move on with my life. In my work I often get messages that need immediate action, but I’m often in situations where I can’t be distracted in the moment, so smart watches have been super helpful.
This is the way. Filter what comes to your wrist. Text from my wife? Absolutely. Ebay badgering me to buy more stand mixers because clearly if I bought one I need 17 more? Fuck off.
I agree with this, but I do have to ask, why do you not just disable notifications by default. I have my phone disable all notifications unless I actually care, then I still filter to only messaging based notices on the watch. Also love the example, Ebay was so annoying at that, it lost its permissions to give ad based notifications awhile ago, it only can do shipment tracking now.
They is exactly my philosophy for my watch. And it got rid on the phantom vibration I used to have from my phone in my pocket. Thinking I had notifications when I didn’t.
Let me know I have a notification, and then I can decide whether to deal with it now or ignore and leave it for later without having to get my phone out.
Also sleep tracking. But that just requires a basic accelerometer with Sleep as Android anyway, nothing special
The original Pebble was perfect.
As someone with ADHD, I 100% agree about the watches.
Personally, I have an old Garmin and literally all I use it for is; telling the time; alarms; notifications of messages (Signal, WhatsApp, SMS, and that’s it) and calls; and counting my daily steps. That’s it. And that’s all I need it to do.
If I had to take my phone out every time it buzzed with a notification, I’d lose at least 15 minutes to scrolling. Instead my watch buzzes, I see who the message is from, and then either take my phone out and reply/answer, or ignore it to look at later.
I’ve had an iPhone and Apple Watch in the past, and was never really able to work out much of a use-case scenario for spending that kind of money on one, but to each their own, I guess.
Vibrators. I don’t want to use a fuckass app. Include a fucking remote control in your product.
Isn’t the fuckass app for use with the smart buttplugs?
Yes, that too.
Everything is regressed to a tiny square of a screen, that you barely look at.
This is precisely why I love my smartwatch. With the watch, I get a notification, I look at my wrist and read it, 95% of the time it’s nothing important and I dismiss it, and then I go about my day.
Without the watch, I’ll get a notification on my phone, 95% of the time it’s nothing important and I’ll dismiss it, but now I have the entire fucking internet just sitting in my hand so why shouldn’t I look up how tall Greg Davies is?
I find that a smartwatch helps me to mitigate distractions, rather than introducing new ones. It’s honestly been one piece of tech that I could actually still recommend to people these days.
Fun fact: Greg Davies is actually only 5’5". He looks taller because Alex Horne is so short at only 4’9".
That can’t be true, I refuse to believe it
Wikipedia:
Greg Davies has been noted for his height of 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m), which often plays a role in his comedic performances.
Pfft, as if Wikipedia is a reliable source. Do your own research: go and stand next to Greg. He’s just a little fellow.
I don’t have a problem with smart devices. I’m a tech head. I LOVE GADGETS. My issues are that smart devices tattle on me to their corporate daddy without my knowledge or permission. My issues are if they aren’t online they don’t work. My issues are if their parent company goes out of business, or stops supporting the devices, or decides I’ve violated a TOS the device becomes a brick. My issues are a lot of smart devices are perfectly pointless and exist solely for the purpose of data harvesting. My issues are I don’t own my smart devices, I’m leasing them.
Home assistant FTW
Watches
Smart ones can be useful. It’s nice to be able to check which app a notification came from and get a short preview without having to take your phone out of your pocket, which can also help people who suffer from the classic case of “I picked up my phone to check a notification and now I’m on TikTok”
Light Bulbs
I agree these don’t usually need to be smart, but there’s also good reasons for them. Changing lights/rooms while you’re away so it looks like someone’s home, setting them to slowly dim throughout the evening so you more naturally get tired on schedule, and the colors can be nice if you need to theme a space. Good for people who often host parties.
Kitchen appliances
Yeah I got nothing here, make 'em all dumb again 🙏
There is still a lot of good uses of “smart” tech, it’s just you’ll find most companies would rather cram it in everywhere rather than just where it’s most useful. For example, it can be good to have smart appliances like your water heater, if you want it to be able to adjust when it pre-heats water based on when it gets used the most, adjust based on the current cost of energy from the grid and output from home solar, etc.
Can also be good to have in something like a thermostat, or electronically connected blinds. You can have them raise and lower automatically based on the angle of the sun to automatically adjust the temperature in your house before relying on a more costly appliance like a heat pump.
Not all smart tech is bad, it’s just that most of it is.
That’s funny. I actually think screens on some appliances are useful, like coffee/espresso machines. There are so many setting on some that it’s much easier with a screen. I guess it also depends if you use additional features or not. E.g. schedule something to do something with specific settings
I’d like a smart kettle that I can turn on from a distance. Even better, a dumb kettle that turns on when the power goes on, and turns off when it’s boiled. That way a smart plug can do the smart thing and no smarts are required in the kettle.
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’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.
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.
- TVs (would rather have a tv box, not in built to the TV itself)
- Appliances (you mentioned it yeah, but this needed a second hey ho)
- Doors/Locks (do not digitize your locks are you stupid?)
- Cars (as an avid car hater, drivers do not need to be more distracted than they already are. Music/radio whatever but do they really need a fucking 24* in plasma TV in their dash??? (*satire on size))
- Vending Machines (saw some dumb people chucking AI into vending machines and that was a horrible idea)
- Security Networks (no thx on mass surveillance in any way esp ones that violate human privacy rights and use AI to ID people)
- Content (ai generated content or ai within content being video, images, blogs or what nots)
About all we can think of off the top our head. Probably more anti ai at the end but the smart features shoved down our throats have recently been ai this or ai that. Whoops ig lol
Oh, speakers.
I don’t need a speaker to be smart. I just need it to connect to my device so I can play music through it. I don’t want to talk to a speaker if I can help it, and I certainly don’t want to have to figure out how to ask it to play ‘d|| tl | | |’ by 65daysofstatic while I’m cooking my dinner.
If we must talk to our things, then sure, have little microphone pucks about the place. But the speakers themselves are perfectly fine just being speakers.
Eh. I like my smart watch.
- Heart tracking. The peace of mind is worth it to me.
- Message peeking. Sometimes I’m waiting for a text while doing something that would make it inconvenient or impolite to pull out my phone.
- Finding my phone. I’m that guy.
Agree, so nice to track my workouts, sleep, messages etc. I’ve got one for Christmas three years ago and it’s turned out to be the best unexpected gift that I’ve come around to enjoy and use
If we define smart as “AI powered”, then all of them.
So many. Its easier to name the opposite
Watches, fridges and dishwashers i guess, but i wish some of my coworkers had a smart version
Pebble watches were perfect, just smart enough to be useful, while still having a week long always on display.
Tactile buttons means you can control your music/answer calls without even looking ar any screen.
Watches
Fitbits are useful - i didn’t ever want one but had to get it for work and i’ll admit it’s actually super useful for knowing if you’re exercising effectively. And it’s very satisfying to see the step progress, it’s like a million chocolate buttons for my adhd brain.
But you said smart watches, so I’m cheating. Some smart watches have contactless payment - my phone doesn’t, and i’ve fallen very out of love with modern phones because they’re too addictive. But buses in my city want people to use contactless tap-on tap-off method, so i figured it woikd be a nice thing to have on a watch one day.
They also make you feel like a spy. But i’d be very unhappy if consumer ones have little cameras attached, that’s almost as bad as “smart glasses”
Hard disagree on the first two, a maybe on the kitchen appliances.
Smartwatches are awesome. I can read a notification without getting my phone. Activity tracking. Sleep analysis. Payments. Music. GPS. Phone calls. Messages. All for under 200 euros new (I just upgraded to a refurbished Samsung Classic 6 this week for 110 euros including shipping). A basic Chinese one with a a bit fewer functions can be found for 20.
Smart Lightbulbs have allowed my family to not touch a light switch for the last 5 years. Every room turns the lights on based on presence, time of day, day of the week, air quality or status of the garbage bins or what’s playing on the TV. Took a few weeks to get it dialed in to the preferences of everyone and has been running reliably since then. Bright white during the day (where needed), cozy warm dim in the evening, red in the middle of the night when you go to the bathroom, unicorn vomit for the kids birthday party. They are like 10 euros a piece, I don’t have dumb Lightbulbs anywhere. Led strips add for fun effects like sunrise, aurora or fire.
Kitchen appliances are a bit more convenient. I can start the dishwasher when there’s excess solar, preheat the oven when heading home with frozen pizzas or blink the whole house lights blue if someone left the fridge open. Definitely nice to have, probably not life changing. Fridges with screens and AI and shit, or anything that REQUIRES an app… yeah, pass.
