No, Smart Home Tech Is Not “Dumb”

The other day, my wife and I left home for the day to run some errands. When we got back later that evening, we realized the garage door was wide open. How long had it been that way? Had anyone been in the house?

We both swore we saw it go down all the way and shut, which meant it probably did, but the sensors were triggered by something at the last minute. That’s not good. It left my home wide open, accessible to all.

Just weeks earlier I had rearranged my office and unplugged my Chamberlain MyQ setup which allows me to remotely control the garage — and check in — from my phone. Had I connected everything again, I would have received a notification that my garage door stayed open for longer than 10 minutes. I also would have been able to close it, and better yet would have known how long it was left open.

I needed to check out my home and make sure it was safe. I have four dogs, but they get locked in crates when we go anywhere.

I told my wife to stay in the car, and slowly I crept into my home, now dark. Hoping that I wouldn’t bump into anyone who wasn’t supposed to be there.

All clear. No one was inside. Nothing was missing. The dogs were whining because they wanted to come out, not because something terrible happened.

After my wife and I got our daughter all settled, I immediately went into my office and plugged in the MyQ transceiver. My Wink hub is always plugged in, connected, and on, but it can’t do anything for the garage if the MyQ is disconnected.

That day I learned my lesson. Smart home tech can be frustrating at times and it doesn’t always work the way you want it to, but it can offer a lot of things we’ve never had before. In my case, that would have been the added security of checking in and closing my garage door.

Are You Just Being Dramatic for Effect?

Nope. That really happened. We are extremely fortunate and lucky that we live in a good neighborhood, otherwise, we could have been robbed blind.

But what makes it so funny, is that often we see a lot of articles like this one, or this one, or even this one. Yeah sometimes the technology has a hiccup — or several — and that definitely breeds negativity. But when it works, it’s glorious.

In my experience, it works much more often than it doesn’t.

Take my smart lock, for example. The first thing I did when we bought our home is swap out the regular lock for a Schlage Touch Camelot. I also picked up a Wink smart home hub to sync to my various devices I was planning to buy.

Why would I do this?

Because it’s convenient, and super awesome. Seriously, I’m not making this up, I’ve actually used this thing for well over a year now.

When a family member or friend needs to get in the house, I don’t have to hand them a key. I can do one of two things. I can either give them a passcode to enter on the touchpad, or I can let them in with my phone. That’s right, the Camelot syncs with the Wink Hub so you can control it remotely.

I can also track who’s come in — or out — of my home at any time. Like, if I give my neighbor a temporary key to check on my dogs while I’m out of town, and he decides to let a ton of people in my home. That’s never happened, thank god, but at least I would know right away if and when it did.

I can see who’s been opening the lock and how many times. And because I also have a MyQ for my garage door I can track that too.

There are workarounds, sure. Someone could come in through the front door and then unlock my glass slider in the back. But at that point, I’ll already know someone is in the house anyway. That’s when I can tap into my home security cameras and check on the situation.

You see, a lot of times you hear about the negative or the bad. And while this technology is far from perfect, it certainly has its place in today’s world. Hell, I feel much safer in my home — and when I’m away — thanks to all these gadgets.

Does that mean I don’t understand the risks? No, definitely not. I get it.

I know someday a resourceful hacker could unlock my door if they take the time to find vulnerabilities in the system. I know someone could tap into my home security cameras and watch me in my home. More power to them. If they want to see me butt ass naked, with my balls stuck to my leather couch, they can go for it. Trust me, it’s not a pretty sight. And they’ll see me naked before they ever see my wife naked, or my daughter.

I’m not touting this technology as the end-all be-all solution like a lot of brands like to proclaim it as. No, you definitely don’t need it. Yes, some of the devices can complicate things, and if you don’t choose carefully you can end up with something that’s discontinued — wasting your money. But how is this different than any other technology?

After you buy a smartphone, eventually, it won’t get updates anymore and you need a new phone. The same is true of computers — though you can always upgrade hardware in those — tablets, laptops, game consoles, and pretty much every piece of technology out there.

You have to measure it by risk reward, and for me, the good far outweighs the bad. Plus, I really don’t want to leave my fucking garage door open again. That was stupid.

Briley currently writes for Ideaing.

At Ideaing we have one mission — to help you live smarter. Our team is passionate about smart technology like nobody else on this planet and over the past 15 years our founders have been so obsessed with technology and shopping, having previously created successful businesses to help consumers save money and make smart buying decisions. From smart shopping to smart living, a lifestyle that incorporates ‘smart’ is the DNA that fuels Ideaing.com.