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When I was writing A Heaven for Toasters, my near-future sci-fi romance, I was trying to imagine what life will be like in a hundred years. For my research, I studied current trends in smart homes and was amazed to realize that the future is already here.
What smart home devices do you use the most in your daily life? A few years ago, most of us would answer “smart speakers” because they were one of the only devices on the market. But that changed quickly with the smart home technology boom, an industry that has made its way into over 52 million homes in the United States. In fact, studies estimate that there will be a 10% increase in the number of smart homes in the US within the next year.
Since this industry is only growing, your answer to the above question may change each year. While it started off as “smart speakers,” it might’ve changed to a “video doorbell” and then a “smart fridge” over the last few years. Looking to the future, you’ll likely be surprised at the technology ready to take hold of the industry (and your home).
Smart Homes of The Future
COVID-19 has already changed our homes, but it’s likely that the pandemic’s impact will be long-lasting. In fact, many of the biggest smart home trends came directly from the lifestyle changes caused by the pandemic. For instance, everyone’s focus on health has led to an increase in smart home devices like air filters, humidity sensors, and touchless appliances to help keep homes cleaner.
Other trends sprouted directly from the pandemic include completely interconnected homes as parents and children look to learn and work remotely. As the category expands, so will homeowners’ expectations. Homeowners will be drawn towards the devices with the most customizable features in order to better serve their needs as well as turn-key homes with smart home devices already installed to make move-in a breeze.
If the protagonist in your near-future novel is looking for a brand new home with the latest technology already installed, here are a few things she may see in the houses she visits, courtesy of Hippo’s smart home tips and trends infographic:
I’m not sure whether to be proud, or ashamed, but I don’t have a single ‘smart home’ device. It’s all I can do to work out how to use my ‘Smart’ phone, which is obviously much smarter than me. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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I’m quite happy to add 100% to your minority, Pete 😉 Apart from my donated smartphone, whose whiskers are now nearly as long as mine [I am promised a newer one, very soon], the most sophisticated devices I have in my rented 18th century cottage are 2 MacBooks, one of which is the thick end of 20 years old; I’m too paranoid to have ‘smart’ speakers or anything else connected to the internet and able to function autonomously. I don’t feel like I’m missing out. Cheers, Jon.
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And what happens when the Internet ‘crashes’, even for a short time? I don’t think I would want to have to rely on a decent broadband connection to function normally. 🙂
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My bunch of hard disks would agree with you, even if I doubt the Internet will crash any time soon. My Internet *connection*, on the other hand…
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I wonder if we’re secretly Luddites lol 😀
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I hang my head in shame as I confess I’m no better, Pete… Ours is a plain ol’ dumb house 🙂
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It’s all clever stuff, Nicholas, and very useful information for fiction writers, but I think I’ll manage quite well for the foreseeable future with my 20th century tech 😉 Cheers, Jon.
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I agree with Pete and Wilfred. I have a smartphone, but it’s not an iphone! I only have it because you can’t get much else. It’s used for–guess what? Making and receiving phone-calls and texts. That’s it.
I have a so-called ‘smart TV’, though, that annoys the life out of my husband as it tries to take over things. It kept saying ‘I’ll suggest something for you to watch.’ until he found out how to shut it up.
It’s no wonder people are getting more stupid as thoughts for deciding what to watch on TV are becoming unnecessary. The TV will decide for you!
No, I’m not a great fan of many of these things. Perhaps being able to see whose at the door, but that’s not new. There used to be a little peephole.
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Lol – that’s why we don’t have a smart TV… but we do have a peephole 😀
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Yes, a peep hole is all you need. You only need a smart device if you can’t be bothered to get up and go and look.
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I’m not a big fan of “smart technology” either. I do want a wireless speaker but it doesn’t have to be smart. A smart tv will cut my cable bill in half. That’s smart, right?
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I don’t care how smart a TV is, I doubt it’d find something good to watch in Greece where I live 😀
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Especially when you have another once-in-a-century Snowocalypse. By the way, I liked the use of graphics. I noticed them right away. Many sources advise to use more.
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Given how busy people are nowadays, we tend to fast-read instead of actually read. Graphics are wonderfully helpful with this!
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I prefer a “dumb” house myself, and I suspect those who might agree are in their later years. I neither need nor want my own home spying on me and recording/reporting everything I do. I’m satisfied with my internet connection for now and doing everything else the old-fashioned way! Intriguing stuff for a novel, but it’s not for me. I enjoy privacy and simplicity way too much to hand it over to electronic devices and AI’s.
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I’m 51 and I agree 🙂
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This is interesting. I have to admit I’m not very tech savvy. My smartphone is enough for me to deal with.
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Lol – sounds like everyone on my blog is like you (and me)!
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