Twenty years after the release of Disney’s Smart House, no one could guess that within 20 years, a fully automated and electronic home would become a reality and a hugely sought-after commodity. Their popularity begs the question: are smart homes here to stay?
Are Smart Homes Secure?
One of the biggest concerns around smart homes is their security. Although their convenience is undeniable, it’s important to think about the consequences of these systems.
Having your home devices connected to the internet, or IoT devices as they’re often called, means a higher risk of cybersecurity threats. This is because having all of your information stored in the same network across your devices makes it easier for hackers to intercept them and access your data. This can lead to, in the worst-case scenario, serious risks such as identity theft.
Though this may be a challenge, there are already solutions on the market.
One of the most cost-effective and popular solutions is to use VPNs. Essentially, products like ExpressVPN, for example, encrypt data by masking IP addresses. Conventionally, most people tend to use VPNs on their desktop devices, but this software solution can actually be used across mobile and smart devices, too. With the installation of a VPN, people can secure their home devices by making them practically untraceable online, thereby protecting both their privacy and that of their household.
Considering that VPNs are a widely accessible solution to security concerns, it doesn’t seem like issues of privacy or hacking are likely to prevent smart homes from growing in popularity in the coming years.
Remote Control for a Remote Life
One of the main reasons for the popularity of smart homes is the fact that many people nowadays work remotely and thus spend a lot more time at home than they used to. A recent Forbes survey shows that as of 2023, 12.7% of full-time employees work from home, and 98% of workers expressed an interest in working remotely at least some of the time.
Being able to control the everyday objects in your house, from the lightning system to door locks, remotely through your tablet or mobile phone is especially useful for people who spend a large portion of their day at home. With remote work being offered by so many workplaces now, it’s easy to see why people increasingly value the convenient ecosystem that smart homes offer.
Endless Potential
Ambient technology, which refers to environments that are responsive to the presence of people, is a big part of the maximized comfort of smart homes.
Plus, as pointed out by CNN, through movement sensors, speech recognition, and voice commands, ambient technology brings with it the advent of something we’re all in need of less screen time. This is because, to request an oven timer or to turn off the lights, for instance, we merely need to ask that by speaking to our home devices. These will become our own virtual assistants and will enable us to look at screens much less frequently.
All things considered, we would say smart homes and intuitive interiors, in general, aren’t going anywhere. The tendency seems to be for everything around us to become increasingly automated to maximize convenience, and that is bound to fully extend to all aspects of our lives eventually.
