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.
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”
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.
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.