I have this smart lightbulb that I got for halloween last year because I thought it'd be cool to make the porch glow purple for trick or treaters. Now I have to replace it because the app that controls it has decided to try and blackmail me for camera and location access and the bulbs default state without the app is to flash on and off in a way seemingly deliberately designed to cause headaches.

This is absolutely a problem, but credit where credit's due, I'm really happy that the specification for Matter requires local control without calling out to the internet. Though Matter devices can still call out to the internet for additional features. I know Matter has it's issues, but I believe it is slowly improving the smart home. But I fully understand people that want to reject the smart home altogether.

Try plugging in a fork. Those still do what they are supposed to do

My poor tv is like, "connect to the internet? I need to call home! Help, i've been abducted by a luddite!"

Tv, you are never getting my wifi password.

The internet has become more and more complex. I miss the early 2000s when I was a kid and everything was open and easy to use. No need to register ,no need to download this or that app. Everything was easy, even the laws.

Omg yes preach !!! I feel it's everything these days, coffee maker....app Vacuum....app Scale...app Electric shower nozzle...fucking app Everything needs a password and an account and my mind is crumbling because of it.

I recently renovated and said fuck no to all the smart home shit. Just the idea of having to troubleshoot the WiFi because my kitchen light won't turn on drives me into a rage.

I remember when games asked you to register and it was optional... and people joked that they never did because there was no benefit to them whatsoever.

Now it is obligatory. No wonder I prefer retrogaming.

I totally agree! I'm trying to avoid logins and download this and that, as possible as I can.

I'm half on one side, half on the other.

The line I draw is between safety and convenience. On the safety side, I want things to be very manual. I don't want some app or external system managing whether or not the lights stay on, or whatever, on the convenience side, I 1000% want a way to manage things like the lighting from an app.

So anywhere that safety is a concern, like the kitchen, bathroom, a handful of other places.... There's zero "smart" anything. Everywhere else, yeah, I can turn off my lights from an app.

When I'm in my office/living room, where safety isn't really a concern, I don't have to get up to turn on the lights, I can yell at my Google home to do it for me, or use an app. If I want the lights to be some shade of turquoise, I use the app....

In the kitchen, as an example, no such control exists. You have to push the light switch, and you get basic bitch white light. You don't get an option. You want the light off? Take your fingers and do the thing that makes the light switch go click and turn off the lights.

The decision to make anything smart relies on whether or not I'm going to be in danger if the lights go out and there's no way to turn them on again because the Internet is down.

No waiting for firmware updates