That's fair. But it's a valid argument, don't you think?
I mean, I agree - of course we'd be better off if we finally got a grip on our mad consumerism. Granted, I don't have any numbers, but from my gut feeling, I would wager that huge diesel trucks are a bit more extreme, impact wise. Of course these gadgets are not great from an environmental perspective. But pretty much nothing is if you break it down. You can expand your argument to almost any area. From phones to gaming consoles to plastic toys for kids to clothes ... everything is going to end up in a landfill eventually and we'd be better off not using these things in the first place. I hope this doesn't sound like whataboutism, that's not what I try to say. I just think it's kind of odd to single out smart home devices when talking about the environment. I'd be gladly proven wrong though.
I don't quite know what to make of the last sentence of your comment. Yeah, automation's productivity improvements to reduce working hours to 4 hours a day would be sweet. Sign me up, I'd even sacrifice all my smart home stuff for it. But it's got literally nothing to do with the argument at hand. It's not like the people have chosen that we want to control our lights with our voice over cutting our working days in half. Unless you mean that you just can't understand the argument that the smart home automation gives us more time to focus on real life. That I agree with. But again, that's not the point. It's fun.
Regarding long term maintenance: we're in the very early stages still. I sincerely hope for more cross-compatibility further down the road. Also, open source projects have done wonders so far to increase the maintainability of smart home products. But that's for enthusiasts, not your everyday I-bought-alexa-and-hue smart home fan.
I mean, I agree - of course we'd be better off if we finally got a grip on our mad consumerism. Granted, I don't have any numbers, but from my gut feeling, I would wager that huge diesel trucks are a bit more extreme, impact wise. Of course these gadgets are not great from an environmental perspective. But pretty much nothing is if you break it down. You can expand your argument to almost any area. From phones to gaming consoles to plastic toys for kids to clothes ... everything is going to end up in a landfill eventually and we'd be better off not using these things in the first place. I hope this doesn't sound like whataboutism, that's not what I try to say. I just think it's kind of odd to single out smart home devices when talking about the environment. I'd be gladly proven wrong though.
I don't quite know what to make of the last sentence of your comment. Yeah, automation's productivity improvements to reduce working hours to 4 hours a day would be sweet. Sign me up, I'd even sacrifice all my smart home stuff for it. But it's got literally nothing to do with the argument at hand. It's not like the people have chosen that we want to control our lights with our voice over cutting our working days in half. Unless you mean that you just can't understand the argument that the smart home automation gives us more time to focus on real life. That I agree with. But again, that's not the point. It's fun.
Regarding long term maintenance: we're in the very early stages still. I sincerely hope for more cross-compatibility further down the road. Also, open source projects have done wonders so far to increase the maintainability of smart home products. But that's for enthusiasts, not your everyday I-bought-alexa-and-hue smart home fan.