To ask if you use an Amazon Alexa or similar home assistance devices...

[EMacCoffee]

What do you find to be its most useful feature? What do you use it for the most?

I'm just curious really, I use mine a lot for setting timers in the kitchen and for alarms. And I also use them as a radio for music around the house as well.

Of course, there are other ways of doing most of the things that Alexa can do. What I find convenient is the fact that it's all in one device.

I get that some people have privacy concerns. Fair enough, don't have an Alexa if you are worried about that. It's a personal choice, isn't it, and we all have to weigh up the potential risks against the perceived benefits. If you're really worried about privacy, you should probably get rid of your mobile phone and the internet as well, along with all of your store loyalty cards, social media accounts etc. Our data is everywhere!

My 2 Alexa's drive me insane. I can't work out how to make them work separately or together.

If dh asks for music in the kitchen it will play it in the living room.
If dc try to play a game on the living room one it will interrupt the kitchen one

And I can't for the life of me work out how to get them both to play the same thing at the same time.

I must be too stupid for modern tech and will have to wait for the kids to grow up and show me how to use it.

Eyeroll at the pp's who come on to say 'I would NEVER have an Alexa because I am so aware and astute about this things and you're stupid if you have one'

The thread asked what you use your Alexa for. Not reasons why you shouldn't have an one.

As a pp said, start your own thread oṇ the horrors of targeted advertising and Data collection.

@Heathcliff27 OMG I just followed your advice and asked alexa to do a fart and here I am unable to stop laughing😂😂 good fun that.

If you can't handle legitimate criticism of a gadget you are stumbling into dangerous 'no debate' territory. A thread full of unquestioing Alexa devotees is the perfect place to raise legitimate concerns about the potential effects. A thread full of sceptics would be preaching to the choir.

Switching things on and off. Listening to the radio. And making farting noises...

Yes I think we get it at this point Ruffle. It's been mentioned a few hundred times on every bloody thread about alexa for the last three years. Let people make their own choices.

Meanwhile...
There is a bin reminder I discovered the other week which tells me what bin I'm on. Useful as I forget week to week.

Also found something called mastermind the other day. Not tried it fully yet but it purports to be able to send a text or WhatsApp for you via voice.

We use 'pick a kid' and 'pick a parent' to stop arguments about which child is going first in the shower etc or which parent is doing bedtime/Cubs pick-up etc

Give up RuffleCrow" the majority of Mumsnetters have zero idea about social media security, data protections, privacy laws etc. You and I and Quintella* are howling into a void.

By the way, a multitude of different email address, obscured and alternate names, no online images or published photos, VPNS , Duck Duck Go , a refusal to online shop or join any email mail outs and a few other bits and a bobs can make one pretty fucking invisible online.

@RuffleCrow who said we are all unquestioning devotees? I'm well aware of the security concerns and issues relating to my data, but having considered those, I'm prepared to use alexas in my house. I think maybe you could credit us with some intelligence and knowledge.

I don't intentionally want to add petrol to this fiery debate (although I believe that a balanced set of views is healthy), but my husband and I would not be keen to add Alexa to our household after reading these articles:

www.theregister.co.uk/2018/12/20/amazon_alexa_recordings_stranger/

www.theregister.co.uk/2019/04/11/amazon_staff_listen_to_alexa/

www.theregister.co.uk/2019/06/12/alexa_children_lawsuits/

Can I suggest those of you interested in alexa skills find the UK alexa group on Facebook. You can discuss smart home there to your hearts content.

@OytheBumbler you can put them in an everywhere group to get it to play on all devices at once.

Not naive at all Viviene, just not someone who goes "oh well some of my data is already being mined, may as well give up on privacy altogether!

You still don’t understand. It’s like you’ve given up privacy over 99.5% of your dats and are now being precious and condescending about the remaining .5%. It IS naive, and you’re in a weak position because you think you’re protecting yourself when you aren’t.

Isn't smart home devices spying a bit of a moot point when we carry a mobile that listens anyway?

I use it to play music and audio books a lot.

The dc are endlessly amused by it making fart noises.

Surely listening functions can be switched off on a mobile but they're the whole point of an Alexa? Personally i'd take my old samsung stuck under a million things at the bottom of my bag rather than a device set up specifically to listen to everything, smack bang in the middle of every room. I'm not sure i buy your stats, Viv, where are you getting them from? Sounds like defeatist talk to me.

TBH if you use any device with a microphone there's a chance it's listening in to your life anyway as there's no guarantee it can actually be fully switched off. If these devices want to listen in to my dull conversations then so be it.

DS (2.5) asks Alexa to play his favourite nursery rhymes and is beyond delighted when she understands him. We have discovered some really good kids’ music on Amazon music by saying the name of the song and letting her pick the version- Vicky Arlidge is fab if anyone is interested.
She also makes animal noises on request.
We have three lamps in our sitting room connected to smart plugs so one voice command switches them all on or off instead of tediously going round flicking individual switches.
My brother, who is paraplegic, finds his a godsend to communicate with his wife in another room of the house. We used it the other day for a conference call and it was miles better than putting a mobile on speaker.
The shopping list function is much better than paper because DH and both have the list on our phones - we’d need to use a carbon paper pad to get the same effect with a notepad! . And you don’t need to remember to take the list with you.

I do however have a great video of Alexa saying “No snow is expected in London today” as a blizzard raged outside the window beside her 😀.
Hands free timers for cooking are great.

Interestingly, although we have Amazon Prime and order something from Amazon on average once a week, I don’t do anything that integrates the Alexa with shopping on Amazon and don’t feel the need for that. I am still very careful to shop around and would never just ask her to order something without checking reviews and prices elsewhere etc.

I hope all of you who refuse to have Alexa or similar have me never had, or spoken near, a smart phone.

We play podcasts of stories to DS and that's all we do at the moment!
We have a Google Home Mini and it's possible to play from an iPad but easier from Android.

(I do turn off the microphone on a lot of my phone apps though I am aware of the issue).

My 12 year old son lay on the sofa yesterday and asked Alexa to make a fart. She has a full range - it made me feel me queasy. It's going to a long summer

Most useful is that it switches the lights. On and off, also use as alarm clock, morning news and music player, food timer. Nothing complex but means I can just ask the air the time or find out the news or weather when in a rush