Digital Assistants

Pros and Cons of Digital Assistants

Digital assistants are devices and software like Google Assistant, Bixby, Alexa, Siri, and others. These assistants have changed our world as we know it. Oftentimes, we can even say they are like uninvited guests in our home and space as they can track our information to yield better search results, suggestions, etc. Though designers created these devices and software programs to help us, they often feel nosey and intrusive. 

LEARN: Google Assistant Guide

Pros of Digital Assistants 

Digital assistants offer multiple benefits which can help your everyday life. If you’re a fast-paced person, you might appreciate the talk-to-text features, so you can always answer your messages and even create emails and documents while multitasking. You can ask your digital assistant to create grocery lists or add to a list, schedule events, add to your calendar, set alarms, set timers, and more. The major pros and convenience of digital assistants are that our devices are almost always with us. From phones, tablets, smartwatches, home systems, and car systems, it’s easy to have all the help with a click of a button, an “Okay Google” “Hey Siri” or other various audio commands. 

Google has leveled up with its audio assistant, not only allowing users to do routine tasks like making a phone call, texting someone, and setting alarms, but it also allows users to shop select sites, and set ringers for other devices. 

If you’re feeling humorous, you can even ask Google to tell you a joke, read you a poem, or sing you a song. These may not help assist you in a task, but they sure make your day a bit brighter. If that doesn’t get you loving digital assistants, then what will? 

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Cons of Digital Assistants

Let’s have a chat about some cons of our lovely digital assistants. We all know our technology can malfunction, some worse than others. Every few months, there are new phone releases and models for just about everything. Plus, every few months each device has software updates that can vary from small changes to mega changes resulting in data loss or corruption. The real problem most of us have? The lack of privacy. Our technology and our digital assistants store a multitude of information from recordings, images, website tracking, purchase history, and more. 

How many times do you and your family have conversations about a product, only to see an advertisement on your Hulu or YouTube account? Sometimes it’s downright scary to realize how much our electronic devices are listening to us. Other times, it can be helpful. But the lack of privacy within our own homes, cars, and spaces is a con of digital assistants.

There is great news! You can turn off a lot of the tracking on our phones, tablets, and computers. Each device has similar ways to remove the listening feature, but doing so does mean it limits the pros of your digital device. When you have a Google account, you can go into your account, into settings, general settings, and select turn off Google Assistant. If you’re wanting your Google Assistant off on your computer, you can select the time button, go into your settings, and repeat to turn off the feature. 

DISCOVER: How To Stop

Home Assistants 

We all love a good smart home device that makes our days easier. A favorite of ours is using Alexa or similar digital home assistants to set laundry and cooking timers, home security, or turn music on plus so much more. 

Home automation has come a long way from just Alexa speakers and Bluetooth devices we’ve learned to love. Home systems include lights, music, thermostats, refrigerators, and more. If you think, “Hey, this would make my life easier,” it probably already exists. Our refrigerators can tell us what ingredients we need and sync them to our grocery list. How wonderful is that? Timesaving digital assistants making our lives easier, one task at a time. 

When it comes to your privacy, you really need to ask yourself, “What’s the cost.” Are these conveniences with home automation and digital assistants really worth your information swimming in the internet ocean? If you really enjoy these devices and assistants, then we highly suggest making sure your routers and wifi are as secure as possible. Check out some of our favorites

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