After Blue Monday, the last thing you need getting you down is more disheartening headlines. Today in wholesome news, over half of Americans say "please" to their smart speaker, with 19% doing this frequently. This comes from a survey by Pew Research Centre amid the increasing integration of artificially intelligent virtual assistants into our homes. Pew also found that women are 8% more likely to be well-mannered toward their smart home devices than men.
These findings may reflect efforts in households to teach children good manners. Smart Home helpers such as the Google Assistant and Amazon's Alexa have been programmed to reward good manners in recent years. This is amid concerns that children who are rude or ungrateful to their virtual assistants could become ill-mannered to actual assistants, teachers or service workers.
Pew's survey also found that one-quarter of Americans have a smart speaker at home. Combined that the findings that one-in-five Americans has a smart watch or fitness tracker, it seems that we're increasingly turning to smart technology to make our lives easier. If you're looking to make the most of this technology but have yet to make the plunge, we've reviewed the best smart speakers on the market to help you make your choice.
Amid these other findings, Pew discovered that over half of owners are concerned about the amount of data collected by these devices. If this is you, we suggest checking out some of the best VPN services to help you feel secure.
