Smart Home or Scary Home? How We Really Feel About the Tech We Live With

pcmag.com:

Did the Disney movie Smart House(Opens in a new window) give you nightmares as a kid? Is your home smart—or Scary Smart(Opens in a new window)? Although smart homes were once the province of science fiction and speculation, they're very real now, and not everyone who lives in one feels all that comfortable about it.

In May, financial company Mortgage Cadence surveyed a little over 900 people in the US, asking how they feel about smart homes. One of the more unsettling results: 73% of respondents are worried about their smart devices listening to them.

While the top individual concern is privacy, smart home owners also fret about security, data collection by companies, and hacking. Sixty-two percent worry about their cameras being hacked; next is Alexa assistants at 34%, and then (in third place? really?) locks at 23%.

It's not all negative, though: 60% of the survey respondents said smart home devices have had a positive impact on their lives. And security systems/cameras are having a positive effect on most respondents, at 27%. And two in five overall said they'd not want to go back to living without smart technology.

Despite our love of smart tech, 74% say some gadgets are just, well, not necessary. First place goes to smart toasters, followed closely by smart toilets.

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