If there's one thing that I honestly struggle to understand, it's IoT.

The Internet of Things.

Otherwise known - to me - as the stupidest idea humanity has ever had.

(Though the way they're doing AI, and end-stage capitalism or whatever this is we're living through both come close!)

I have a pretty long history of working in IT - on helpdesks, as a trainer, as a programmer, as a tech lead, that sort of thing. So I know what happens when humans write requirements, develop programs and build things that aren't supposed to go wrong.

And I know how often they go wrong.

That's why pretty much everything I own is not connected. I have a smartphone, of course, though it's almost exclusively for online banking. I use an old "feature phone" for actual phone stuff. Everything else is boring old standard electronics.

I don't want a front doorbell that notifies me someone is there when I'm 100km away.

I don't want a "smart meter" that tracks my water use by the minute, purely so the supplier can charge me more.

I don't want a "smart hoover" that tells me it got stuck under the sofa at 2 a.m.

I don't want a notification from a "smart fridge" that its door is open. (Though I might want a fridge that detects it and closes itself).

And most of all, I don't want a whole bunch of devices in my home that can be hacked.

The recent hacking of supermarket freezers in Europe is an excellent example of the stupidity of IoT. As is the hacking of Roombas. And coffee machines. And baby monitors. And home security CCTV. And cars. And pretty much anything and everything stupid enough to be connected for no reason.

And that's really what it is: connecting for no reason.

It's like building a safe home, then bashing gigantic holes in all the walls and claiming it's better because you can see outside easier.

None of those things need connections.

The so-called benefits are made-up nonsense from marketers. Or from governments who want to track everything so they can tax it.

Not subscribing to that, thanks.

Do you use/trust IoT devices? Do you actually think there's a point?