I suppose yes for my use case. I would say 80% is to play music and 19% turn on lights and that last 1% for weather and timers.
The time it takes to pull a phone, ten taps, and do one of those things is going to be more mental and physical effort along with time than speaking out the command.
Of course I hold views and express them in my house and, provided I am recorded, taken to court or executed for such positions, I suppose I am either living my truth and willing to die for it or subject to being silenced by unknown parties at an unknown time for an unknown reason. I refuse the latter.
I have weighed these topics heavily. I also have cameras, walk around wearing a smile, and carry on with activities that I would rather not be made public yet at the same time - if they were, I believe all those who use devices are subject to the same exposure.
I choose not to be famous or become well known. If I had 2x net worth or personal exposure I live in a faraday cage.
I know at least two UK based elderly people who use Alexa on the regular for various reasons. Of course, the device struggles with their accents frequently but that doesn't seem to be enough of a deterrent.
For a lot of people, voice commands are easier than figuring out a device.
Having to weigh the pros and cons of eroding privacy protections, where the service is placing its own needs ahead of those already specified by the user. For me the answer is no, but I'm wondering what people get from these devices that make this a worthwhile trade off. I feel like a mobile phone gives me most of the utility, just through a different UX
> Having to weigh the pros and cons of eroding privacy protections
The typical consumer doesn't do that, at all. It's a nearly universal blindspot.
Here's a fun Q. Do you know how many apps on your phone have business relationships with Gravy Analytics? Why not? The personal detriment is much worse than Amazon.
