why i have a smart home

I have a smart home for a few reasons, but they mainly come down to creativity and being hands-off.

To be honest, I don’t see someone owning an Alexa or another smart speaker as truly having a smart home—that’s just a fancy light switch. And apps aren’t the full answer either.

Being Creative

• I enjoy building cool automations, like having my lights change to random colors or using a webhook from my notes app to start my kettle.
• It’s fun for me as a consumer to buy interesting gadgets that give me new possibilities for automations.

Being Hands-Off

• Improving efficiency so the human element doesn’t forget: for example, my AC automatically switches from 64°F at night to 72°F when I open the door in the morning.
• Eliminating unnecessary context switching—I don’t have to stop what I’m doing to handle small tasks.
• Improving family living by having lights turn on automatically so people can see where they’re going and avoid touching light switches, which also reduces germ spread.

Conclusion

Do I need a smart home? No—plenty of people live without one.
But as a nerd who values productivity and the ease of walking into a room without doing anything, I’m a power user. I self-host my own system with Home Assistant, which makes my setup both hands-off in daily use and hands-on when it comes to building and maintaining it.