Lets talk about Smart Home Myths/Misconceptions
As Technology becomes more advanced and integrated into our everyday lives, it's easy to feel overwhelmed or concerned with how things like Smart home technology come into play, and honestly if it even should be a part of our everyday lives at all. My intent with this post is to address a few key items that I feel are key reasons that many find to avoid taking the step into the Smart Home world, and how concerned you should really be about them.
1. Smart Homes are too complicated
A smart home can be as simple or complex as your comfort level (or wallet) desires. IF you want to get your toes wet and just start off with a few simple items like smart lightbulbs, plug outlets, and sensors you can and these are as easy to install as their non smart counterparts. If later on you'd like to step up to more unique or advanced products and methods that's also an option and as a bonus, you won't have to completely abandon what you began with in many cases. Highly integrated systems can require specialized installation and maintenance, but that's an edge case that only need apply for those who have the financial freedom for that option to be the painless and preferred one. Many versatile options exist that are very powerful with the automations and devices/services that they support for a very reasonable price. So don't wait or avoid making that first smart home purchase, a little research and an end goal can be all you need to put you on the right track for now and in the foreseeable future.
2. Smart Homes cost too much.
In a similar vein to the concept of a complex smart home, an affordable smart home is also something that scales with both your comfort level and/or budget accordingly. You can start with very inexpensive and reliable devices for little cost. Though at a lower price point in some cases you may forgo some advanced features, for many just the basics can be a big benefit. Light bulbs start usually at as little as around 7-10 dollars per bulb, smart plug outlets usually hover around the same price range, and even devices that are capable of coordinating your assortment of smart devices can be had for under 50 dollars if things begin to expand a fair amount.
As your requirements change and become more advanced, the typical next stage is usually decided by time, effort, and money. typically the more time and effort, the less the overall cost, but the less time and effort, the more a system will cost as it usually will involve hiring someone to implement your advanced needs with the corresponding product. The biggest take away though is that you can accomplish what you set out to do at any price range with some very rewarding results. Another advantage that you can leverage is purchasing devices that allow you can begin with one platform as your foundation and then later on if needed, let you pivot to the next without the need to repurchase items you are currently using.
3. Smart Homes are insecure/easy to hack.
One of the bigger concerns I see raised by people is that smart home technology seems very easy to circumvent and in reality that honestly not the full picture. As with all things, the effort you put forth to secure yourself usually translates into how secure it is. if your ATM pin is 0000, then you can't be shocked if someone find a way to obtain your money if you lose your card. Same concept applies to any smart home platform. The vast majority of circumvention is due to compromised usernames and passwords that have been obtained at other unrelated websites/services that are also used by people across multiple websites and services as well or by just plain old simple passwords (such as password, or 123456 or the like).
Following best practices such as not using common or easy to guess passwords (a phone number or any random string of just numbers is NOT secure!) across multiple accounts, utilizing layered security measures such as 2-factor authentication whenever possible, and other similar factors are usually what separates an insecure smart home from a secure one. Other key factors that can help, not only from a security standpoint, but also a longevity/ownership aspect, is choosing to utilize devices that don't rely on cloud infrastructure and/or the internet. There are many protocols that can provide you with the connectivity you'll need between your various devices without ever reaching outside of your own home network (a few don't even require any form of Wi-Fi access at all!). This adds another layer of security in that you can effectively isolate your home from the outside world if you so wish, and with Zigbee and Z-wave in particular, you can also avoid adding any large amount of devices into your home network which can be very beneficial to avoid too many devices which can cause interference and network traffic congestion for normal consumer equipment, especially for large deployments.
In some ways other devices such as smart locks can actually add a layer of security when used in conjunction with things like fingerprints, fobs, NFC, and one time or time of use passcodes for situations where you want to give someone, say your child, the ability to access the home but don't necessarily want them to need a key or permanent passcode to access it. having alternative access options that are localized provide that extra layer of security that a traditional Key can't match. Being deliberate in your security measures goes a long way to creating a secure smart home.
4. Smart Homes require too many apps
One big annoyance with smart homes that I see for those who do take the leap is that they start off jumping straight in the deep end buy items that do work and do what you need them to do, but usually are catered to their individual manufacturers ecosystems and apps. It's an easy scenario to end up in admittedly. The good news is you can utilize smart home devices that can all coexist within a single platform for the vast majority of devices used. There are some edge cases for some items, but the great thing about the smart home, is that many of the major platforms will support the larger corresponding device platforms so that the need for a large amount of apps is greatly reduced. Instead of 10 random devices with their own individual apps to make them work, you can utilize a centralized platform such as Smartthings, Hubitat, Homey or Apple Homekit and then make purchases that work through those platforms to consolidate your devices into one ecosystem.
5. Why do I need a smart device to do something, when I can just do it myself?
This is a viewpoint that is very subjective I'll admit, clearly we've been interacting with our homes/dwellings since the advent of electricity and understand how to accomplish these tasks without thinking twice about it. But to me, the beauty of the smart home is not having an alternative way to accomplish the same simple task, but the ability to take that device that's used for said task while adapting it to many other scenarios to improve your quality of life. So for example, you have a normal light switch in your living room, it's centrally located, not hard to get to, but maybe not exactly just two steps away either. You turn the light on and off when needed, simple and self explanatory.
Now lets take that normal light switch out and put in a smart one. You still operate it like any other light switch, now you can also turn it on or off with a mobile device, or maybe even your voice but who want's to have to look for their phone every time or speak when they want to turn on/off a light? Fair point, but what about all the intangibles that you never considered because the options weren't even possible? What if you wanted to turn on your living room light after sunset once you arrived home so that you didn't have to walk into a dark house but also don't want to leave a light burning all day? Or if you really liked your lights to be at varying brightness levels depending on what time it was. What if you had a bad habit of remembering to turn off the living room light? Or that living room light was enough that you normally wouldn't need to flip on 2-3 other switches to see late at night in order to make it to the living room safely? What if you're away from home for vacation and wanted to give off the appearance of being home? Or you're sitting in your living room and have no idea that the door is unlocked, or the garage door is still open but could have a way to alert you if they were? What if that one light switch gave you the flexibility to address all those scenarios and maybe even more? What about a whole house of switches!?
The beauty of the smart home is that you can introduce quality of life improvements that, while they may not be game changing from a core functionality standpoint, they can make your interactions and experiences more efficient, convenient, and safe when complimented with other devices. This is especially true for those who are elderly or have limited to no mobility.
In the end, Smart Homes can be tailored to your needs and budget while being flexible enough to allow you to expand at your own pace as those needs change or grow. It doesn’t require a complex setup to be useful or efficient and they’re as secure and private as you need them to be. The only requirement is planning ahead and understanding what your key needs are in order to provide yourself with the best path to a Smart Home that fits your use case and budget.