Smart technologies are too much

I don't have smart anything in my home, just old fashioned stuff that you switch on and off. I have a humax box to record and pause live telly, and for the rare occasion when I watch i-player. I don't play games, have a smart phone or anything else.

I agree about supermarket fridges and freezers though why do they need to be smart, why does any fridge or freezer need to be smart for that matter? I hate the idea of my fridge deciding what groceries I need and ordering via a shopping app, I don't have grocery shopping apps either, I'm old fashioned and go to physical shops.

I refuse to have a smart meter for the power usage, for one thing our house is built like a faraday cage so it would probably malfunction, I've also heard of to many people who've ended up with huge bills because of them malfunctioning.

I don't have a sat nav either, they often don't work very well around here and I hate the idea of them being built into cars and not being able to turn them off, I did have a car that shouted at me all the time and I hated it. 

I don't think its the internet itself which complicates things, but the people who put stuff on it, like how a company can make so much money from advertisers that it's unfriendly for customers and some sites don't actually care about their customers. Search engines that give you scads of stuff you didn't ask for and few examples of what you did, even when you're specific about make and model number for your search.

TheCatWoman said:

I've also heard of to many people who've ended up with huge bills because of them malfunctioning.

Oh, wow. I'd not heard of that. Thankfully, I'm in the habit of taking a photo of my meter readings every month, which should help if that ever happens to me.

A friend had a huge bill because the smart meter was sending a much lower usage amount to the supplier and did it for 18 months before it was discovered, leaving her to pay off the missing amount.

As you photo your readings anyway wouldn't it be ust as easy to send them to your supplier?

I don't need to send them. I enter the readings on the supplier's website once I've taken the photos and check the bill against my spreadsheet when it arrives (as an email) the following day. They use my readings. 

I've also set the spreadsheet up to calculate the correct amount to be charged when I feed in the meter readings, but that's because I've been using spreadsheets for years and know how to set up formulas that will do the work for me automatically. then I check my calculations against theirs.

I don't need to send them. I enter the readings on the supplier's website once I've taken the photos and check the bill against my spreadsheet when it arrives (as an email) the following day. They use my readings. 

I've also set the spreadsheet up to calculate the correct amount to be charged when I feed in the meter readings, but that's because I've been using spreadsheets for years and know how to set up formulas that will do the work for me automatically. then I check my calculations against theirs.