Today, smart home technology has matured leaps and bounds beyond its humble beginnings — delivering tailored benefits and whole-house solutions to its users.
The recent Smart Home Report by LG ThinQ® breaks down the primary ways smart technology is being integrated into users’ lifestyles, revealing that smart living is enabling Americans to fully realize their personal values in their day-to-day household activities.
But what exactly are the benefits being enjoyed by smart home users? And which lifestyles and values do smart homes cater for? In partnership with smart home technology pioneer, LG Electronics, we explore where and how smart living proves to be a clever choice — and what the future holds.
SAVING POWER, SAVING MONEY, SAVING THE PLANET
Above all else, smart home users found that embracing smart technology meant greener living, with incredible advantages to saving energy. Many of the features used to achieve energy returns are not only beneficial environmentally, but increase comfort at home — such as air conditioner energy optimization, and smart TV ambient condition monitoring and playback adjustments.
Streamlining a wide range of appliance functionality, from air conditioners to refrigerators and washing machines, also delivers cost-savings that can be both experienced in the short-term and accumulated over time. Longer term cost-savings achieved through increased clothing, bedding and upholstery longevity via smart washer technology, or reduced food waste via smart fridges, also confer a positive impact on individual footprints, too.
MODERN LIFESTYLE AGNOSTIC
The versatility and endless innovation available to modern smart homes means that different users are able to cater their homes to their own areas of interest and lifestyle needs. As part of the Smart Home Report, lifestyle was divided into 14 groups of values and 13 groups of interests, with the top three areas of interest identified as: children/education, gardening, and household.
All three user groups were overwhelmingly satisfied with their smart homes, with reports of satisfaction measuring 53 percent or higher, despite preferring different smart appliances from one another and using them in distinct ways too.
Some of the key benefits included giving parents and caregivers the ability to create customized, comforting environments for children through smart lighting; enabling anyone with their hands full to harness the power of their voice through remote control and voice command features; and placing the safeguarding of homes directly in the pockets of users, by giving them control over security devices like smart locks and remote monitoring.
The report also found that smart homes are catering to other modern lifestyle interests too, with users interested in fashion, sports, cooking and content able to tailor their use of smart technologies to help them deepen their interests. The report cited examples like fabric identification and maintenance, via an intelligent washing machine; automatic score updates and game reminders; and even remotely viewing fridge contents and tracking expiration, to prevent food wastage and over-shopping.
SMART HOMES ARE ONLY GOING TO GET SMARTER IN THE FUTURE
It’s clear that smart homes are not just a passing trend; the future of smart living will become even more flexible and user-adaptive. While smart homes today already routinely offer ways to seamlessly enhance and improve your chosen lifestyle, there’s little doubt that the future of smart technology will increasingly learn from users and provide suggestions adapted to diverse lifestyles — making your time at home more comfortable than ever.
The LG ThinQ® Smart Home Report presents a comprehensive look at the smart home market that’s essential viewing for anyone interested in the future of living and the smart home market. Read the full report here and watch the video below.