Alexa............?|pad patter 3.6.2019

Nope, I am in the creeps me out category.
I agree that phones are listening all the time. Mine was lying on the kitchen counter and I mentioned I felt like cheesecake, the next thing the phone was googling cheesecake recipes. I haven't even set it up to respond to my voice - as it keeps reminding me.

 

Nope, we won't have one either. We disable the digital assistants on all the devices they come on, and we'd never buy a standalone device for privacy reasons. I have "Do not track" turned on in Chrome, though I don't know if it does much good. But my kids do have fun playing with Alexa when we visit my sister.

 

I have a Google Mini that I use as a bluetooth speaker. My husband has several Alexa devices that he and the kids use to listen to music from his Amazon library. We almost never get a successful answer to any question that we have asked either device; neither of them seem to know much. Alexa/Echo seems to only work well when we are reading off a script to it from the weekly email.

 

I have the old echo dot (I think) and it answers to hey google (no music) and is very smart. Our family dinners tend to be ecletcic and she comes in handy when you want to know something really absurd like the Capital of Serbia during the cold war...I also got an alexa small tower after that that played music and she did a good job until she had to compete with the echo show tablet that my DD game me for Christmas. (I have an iphone and ipad I always bring in the kitchen to follow recipes) the show tablet is so stupid...she knows nothing! She is dumber than Siri on the iphone (gasp) Since the tablet is an alexa as well, the two alexas compete all the time. The show is not very good and it shows the dumbest news on it as well.

 

We have 3...2 dots and a spot! Alexa turns on my lights, and turns them off from work when DH forgets (I always check lol), and she plays me music while I'm cleaning. My oldest likes to "drop in" on us from time to time. I will look over at the spot and his face will be there lol. I had to laugh when I found out he keeps one in his bathroom to keep him occupied while he's doing business hahaha, and he has another in the living room for controlling his lights and things. Do I think they're listening? Probably. I've been surprised at things that show up as advertisements after I've just talked about it, but the same holds true for when I search something online. If someone dropped in here they'd just hear a bunch of goofy random chatter and stupid fart jokes for the most part, or me yelling at the 13 year old to do something. When I'm not home and DS doesn't answer my texts, I drop in on Alexa to yell at him. There's one in his bedroom, one in my office, and the spot i Pretty handy.

I always tell her please and thank you, too

 

I'm with the creeps me out group too!
I tried to turn off all the Google devices on my phone, to make sure they stop recording me - in some things, cause we know that they know everything about us, its crazy!
I put a tape on my notebook camera also.
anyway, I think those devices are cool, but there are so many creepy stories out there...

 

All of our computers have black electrical tape over the cameras. I thought I was the only paranoid one - glad to see I'm in good company.

 

I don't have any of these kinds of devices except Siri on my iPhone because we have no money for them. I'm not very creeped out by them. I would like the conveniences like being able to add something to my grocery list when my hands are messy from dirty dishes. I make a lot of use of my digital calendar, notepad, etc. and I love how digital stuff is easier. Including digital scrapbooking!

As for Siri on my iPhone I don't use it much. Occasionally I'll speak a text while driving or ask Siri to play music. I wish I could use it to operate my podcast app, Overcast, but apparently Siri only knows how to operate Apple's Podcast app (which I stopped using because it doesn't work well).

 

Nope. Not going there. My in-laws were given one for their apartment to "help" with daily life, like making reservations for dinner in the dining room, etc. (they live in a retirement community). They had it for a couple of weeks before dumping it - Alexa had recorded one of their conversations and emailed the entire thing to someone on my FiL's contact list.

The only fun I have is to "play" with Siri by asking it stupid questions, like "sing me a song" over and again, and silly stuff like that. Otherwise it's off.

 

Nope, and I have no desire to have one in my house.

 

I really do want one, but don't have any experiences yet with one!!

That's so cool that you can announce a message when you aren't at home! I'd love that!

 

Not a chance. I am in the creep out group. My camera on the desktop faces the wall when not in use, GPS on devices,is turned of, my phone does not automatically connect to any WiFi that is not in this house, or has not been manually entered by me,the voice activated apps on a 'll devices is turned of,and I have none of the Google smart features apart from uploading my photos from the phone. All this stuff gives me an itch.... but I can see the fun in it.

 

We love our alexa! I use it for grocery lists (it's soooo easy to say "alexa, add brown sugar to the shopping list" while I'm using up the last of it!) and then love pulling up the list on my app when I'm at the store! Although random things get added to my list- like last week my hubby obviously added "wife be nice to husband" to the shopping list!

I also use it a lot for music and for asking random questions- usually having to do with cooking/measurements. The kids love the daily jokes, etc.

As far as the 'listening' aspect- I say listen away. I'm sure our phones already are- and if this little dot makes my life easier, I'm all about it. Good luck staying awake listening to our boring life!

 

well this topic seems to polarise people! we don't have one, same reason as about 2 dozen of the others (although the smart light globes/bulbs intrigue me ) but the kids like asking siri questions like what is zero divided by zero - and then it has an answer to do with cookie monster having no and no friends and how it jut doesn't work

 

I want an Echo (or a couple)...but my husband thinks it's too invasive (which I do agree with him), but I think it would be so cool to add stuff to the grocery list, turn off the lights/music/etc., communicate with family members upstairs...

 

Just last week we 'ladies who breakfast' were talking about how saying something with your phone nearby leads to instant ads on Facebook. Now these two women in question always have their phones ON and spend lots of time on FB. Knowing how easy this is...and how which of us ever reads and/or understands what we are agreeing to when we hit the buttons saying we read the phone etc agreements... I will not have one of these assistants in my home.

I think it was the Phillips Hue lightbulb system that has to be connected to Alexa or some other digital helper and that convinced someone I knew who wanted it, to decide against it, especially in the bedroom where it seemed like a nice mood lighting.

 

Same here! Not having more invasion. Smart phone, smart tv's...already having same things happen like you have. Can't imagine a smart Fridge nor security system that could be hacked and we could be watched (the camera on my laptop is off AND covered lens!)!

 

We have one Echo in the kitchen because my husband is a techie. He also has a Show down in the family room by his computer. The only thing I have ever used it for is to play music on the rare occasions I want music on in the house.

 

I love Alexa! I know this is polarizing, but she turns on lights for me, she can have multiple timers going, she plays music for me, she wakes me up from my naps. We have a regular echo and two dots.

 

i cover my desktop camera with washi tape but not my iPhone - which ironically is the one that goes everywhere with me. i get a little creeped out by how much my phone tracks me and my patterns - the most high tech i have gotten inside my home so far is the wifi light sockets to automatically turn my lights on in the house at certain times. alexa/dots/ etc freak me out!