Smart devices are maturing and provide useful, reliable remote sensing and control services. Devices extend the reach of their owners but remain ignorant of their own existence and add to our digital noise. Unless we adopt them wisely, these products may not be so smart after all.

The Internet of Things, Smart Devices, Connected Home etc. classes of consumer technologies are reaching the ‘plateau of productivity. Today’s so-called ‘smart’ devices offer convenient sense and control functionality. However, they lack any product lifecycle awareness and aren’t smart enough to ‘look after’ themselves. Like other digital interfaces, smart devices can be very helpful in isolation but they also add to the noise and distractions in our increasingly congested personal digital environment.

My home security camera does a great job identifying and alerting me about pets and humans (and leaves, possums, birds, spiders, rain…) but can’t recharge itself, arrange a repair if broken or replacement if stolen. It doesn’t have a record of where it’s been since it was made, it doesn’t know if it’s under warranty, or insured, it doesn’t know how much it’s worth, and it doesn’t know if it’s been hacked. Despite being ‘smart’ it remains a fungible mass-produced commodity product – easily substituted with another camera from the same product category.

Early versions of these consumer devices were unreliable and required the technical support of enthusiastic home hobbyists. Quality and reliability have improved and costs have reduced to the point where many reasonably tech-savvy users are adopting ‘smart’ security and pet monitoring, audio, power management and connected appliance systems.

These systems are affordable but not exactly cheap. By adding more personal assets, we take on more ownership responsibility. On top of that, all of these systems provide new digital interfaces for us to manage through new dedicated apps or added complexity to existing apps. If they were truly ‘smart’, these devices wouldn’t demand our attention like the guests at a 5 year old’s birthday party.

While digital noise can be distracting, smart devices also introduce a much more serious risk – personal security. Cyber security vulnerabilities can allow some very unwelcome uninvited guests to your party. Several countries have introduced legislation that requires manufacturers of consumer devices to provide ongoing security software upgrades and keep a record of devices that are no longer supported. This is a good start but will also create a new trail of digital breadcrumbs for each device and a new set of records and responsibilities for owners to manage.

Of course the vast majority of physical things today do not have ‘smart’ connected technology and it will be a long time before most things are part of a universal internet of everything.

In the meantime, physical items will continue to depend upon human providers for physical services and through-life care. In the case of consumer products, each owner serves as a responsible custodian who supports the product through their share of its life, managing the administration and record keeping, finding and employing the service providers as required.

In this respect, smart devices are just as dumb as the rest of the physical things that don’t have the technology. They do however offer new capabilities and additional demands on our time and attention. Time will tell how wise the current smart path is.