Smart Homes Opinions: The Awful and Awesome in a Child’s Eyes

This text was written by my 11-year-old son and represents his personal reflections on new technologies and our passion for smart homes. KP

When I was younger, I would have never imagined about smart-technology being in a bunch of stuff like the lights, to create a smart home. When I heard the word technology, I would have only thought about tablets and phones, but now that I am older and more experienced in technology, I now see that technology isn’t only a tablet or a smart-phone, but it is now/in every hospital and building, and now it’s pretty much unavoidable. Most homes around the world are not up to date with the smart home technology available now, and why should you be in that group? Last year, my parents decided to make our house a smart home and it made my life a living wonder, from being able to listen to music where ever I am at home, to closing the front door when I forgot to lock it, no matter what it improved my life.

Entering the Smart-home World

The first thing my parent had done were install smart speakers around the house. At first, I was wondering about what it could do, I never seen one in person except in my friend’s house. But when I discovered what it could do, I couldn’t imagine what my parents could do next, I played music on it for hours and played some of my audiobooks before bed. It could even remind me stuff I’ll normally forget! But also, we can not forget the built in Ability to search Google with my voice!

Additional Smart Home Devices

Another thing my parents installed were smart lights, now this just solved the problem of me getting grounded. Now I could turn off the lights when in bed or turn them off when I forgot to, and if the Wi-Fi is down, I can still use the normal switch! The best thing about this were all the pranks I could do; I could turn off the light when some one was in the bathroom or in the bedroom chilling, the options were unlimited!  

They also installed smart locks, perfect for eliminating the other big punishments, due to my memory. They do the exactly how they are named… they allow you to lock doors from your phone! This is also a great place to prank your parents or mates.

Something else they installed were Smart-doorbells and cameras, now I could spy on my friend’s house without him knowing! I also feel much safer in my neighbourhood. The only bad thing about this is that now my parents know when I leave the house or enter the house. But smart-sockets just opened a new world, being able to turn on a plug under a table or behind the sofa without bending down or moving objects or even moving is just heaven (not including the punishments that will take place after my pranks).

This one wouldn’t be one you’ll want to do if you don’t want to spend a lot of money on your smart home at once, smart heating. Being able to increase the temperature of my room, without heating (or cooling in my case) up the house is perfect when my parents are (somehow) warm.

The Negatives about a Smart Home

Although there are many positives to a smart-home, there are always negatives. My parents being able to see if the door is locked or if the light on, is a negative for me since my parents keep talking to me about not forgetting to turn off the lights and locking the door, some of the reasons of why my parents made a smart-home, to make getting punishments quicker for me if I forget to lock the door. Another negative is that every thing someone unlocks a door or fails to scan their fingerprint or something, my phone starts to buzz saying, “Back door lock was unlocked” or “Intruder alert; Failed attempt to scan fingerprint at Back Door lock.” It’s all very annoying.

Concerns about Smart Homes

Despite this wonderful future we are heading to, there is a concern that I have. What if it gets hacked? Knowing full well that I have trusted these companies with my data ever since I was a small boy and they never got leaked, I can say that it wouldn’t change anything for them if they got more data about the music I listen to or when I have the lights on (even though this data would be a bit incorrect due to my memory), this wouldn’t do anything. If the smart home does get hacked, then we can just remove the plug to the Wi-Fi and problem solved.

Summary

What I think about smart homes are that they are where you should be going to, they will improve your life by a mile, even if its just a smart speaker or one smart light, it will change your life. There are so many more opportunities in the smart home world, that I’m sure when I’m older what I have now will be nothing in the future. If you have concerns, then imagine what you given to the company, and how it affect them if they have your bedtime or your up to date music taste, it will do nothing.