Like many of you, I use my phone every day. I'm in the right age bracket to say that I went from not using a phone very much at all when I was younger (I lived in a small town, too, so phones weren't all that important when you could just walk to your friend's house), to eventually my phone being one of my most important items. Smartphones are designed to help users with just about everything they could need, from health-related areas, entertainment, and much more.
And for many, having a phone is the one way they can easily connect to the internet, check their email, search for jobs, and so much more.
One of the determining factors I have for keeping a gadget is how often I use it. As I noted earlier, my phone is basically off the chopping block because it has become an essential part of the daily routine. But plenty of other items can come and go depending on how prevalent they are on a daily basis. After all, some of these devices cost quite a bit of money, and if I'm not going to use them, well, I can find something else more worthwhile to use the money on.
It's one of the reasons I've gone back-and-forth with tablets over the years. I have these lofty goals for picking up a tablet. Some use case I think a device like that would be perfect for. And maybe it is for a couple of days, but eventually it stops. It comes down to muscle memory, basically. I've been going so long without a tablet, and using apps in a certain way, that throwing in another device just doesn't seem worth it because I'll usually just go back to doing things how I did before I had the tablet to begin with.
The one outlier here might be a smartwatch. I just don't want another device giving me notifications.
I'm using a Google Home right now, listening to music while I write this up. I realized earlier this morning that the smart speaker has slipped into my daily routine, despite the fact I didn't really think it would. I was half-right, it turns out.
I don't use Google Assistant all that often. I've got my computer in front of me most of the day, so I don't really need to ask the digital assistant anything. (Routine strikes again.) And that's one of the reasons I was on the fence with picking one up. I knew I wouldn't be using one of the selling points all that often, so what was the point?
Well, it works great as a speaker. The audio quality isn't the best, but it's better than my TV, or my computer. And I technically use Google Assistant to change songs sometimes, thanks to Spotify supporting that feature.
The price tag for the Google Home wasn't that much to begin with, but it was high enough that if I wasn't using the smart speaker enough I'd want to get rid of it and put that money to better use. But I can safely say that the device has snuck into the daily routine, and quite easily, too. Maybe one day I'll start getting accustomed to asking Google Assistant more questions, or even start controlling smart home products. Even if that doesn't happen, though, it serves its purpose on a daily basis, so that's good enough.
If you have picked up a smart speaker, which one, or ones, do you own? Do you use it every single day, for one thing or another? Or is it just one more accessory in your home that only gets used sparingly? Let me know!
