Privacy Concerns? Not Here. This Smart Home Tech Is (Still) Flying Off Shelves – PCMag

Concerns about inflation or a surveillance state have not stopped US consumers from buying smart home gadgets like smart cameras, TVs, video doorbells, and more.
I’ve been writing about computers, the internet, and technology professionally for 30 years, more than half of that time with PCMag. I run several special projects including the Readers’ Choice and Business Choice surveys, and yearly coverage of the Fastest ISPs and Best Gaming ISPs. I work from my home, and did it long before pandemics made it cool.
Smart home device spending peaked in 2020 alongside the COVID-19 pandemic, but consumers are still outfitting their houses with speakers, cameras, and other gadgets at a pretty rapid clip, according to a survey from SafeWise.com.
Of the 1,000 US buyers over age 18 surveyed by SafeWise.com in May 2022, 65% purchased a smart lock or a security camera in the last year—be it a doorbell, a nanny/baby cam, security system, or even a smart pet camera.
For individual product types, though, the smart TV reigns supreme. Second to that is the smart speaker/display—over one-third of those surveyed have purchased a device that talks back.
Of the respondents who purchased smart home tech, 77% said they use it daily. Sixty-four percent made their purchases online (which is fewer than in 2021), and 61% were between the ages of 25 and 44. Thirty-nine percent work from home.
In total, Americans spent $1.2 million on home tech in the last year; the average spend per person was a little over $1,200, SafeWise.com finds.
Also of note were the people surveyed who did not buy smart home technology. The majority of non-buyers are women (69%), and most of them do not work from home (85%). They likely number among those who feel uneasy living with all that smart tech.
For more, read the full report on SafeWise.com(Opens in a new window).
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I’ve been writing about computers, the internet, and technology professionally for 30 years, more than half of that time with PCMag. I run several special projects including the Readers’ Choice and Business Choice surveys, and yearly coverage of the Fastest ISPs and Best Gaming ISPs. I work from my home, and did it long before pandemics made it cool.
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