Smart Speakers Help People Living Alone Feel Less Lonely, Reveals Survey

Some specially-abled respondents pointed out that the device had a significant impact on their lives, giving them greater independence besides helping them to manage and even improve their conditions.

Smart speakers have become a boon for many especially those who are living alone and for specially-abled people. A new survey revealed that smart speakers make those staying alone feel less lonely and give some specially-abled people a stronger sense of independence, according to new Ofcom research.

The in-depth survey from Ofcom research looked at 100 owners and 15 non-owners who tried a smart speaker, according to the Guardian report. Some of them described their device as being like a companion and said they liked being able to talk to it. 

Some specially-abled respondents pointed out that the device had a significant impact on their lives, giving them greater independence besides helping them to manage, and even improve, their conditions and abilities.

“It really is the difference between maintaining independence around the house … my carers don’t have to keep getting up every five minutes,” said one such person.

“Like this evening, I was able to just ask it to put these lights on. Years ago, before I had that facility … I would have had to ask people to do things manually.”

What are the findings?

The latest data from Ofcom revealed that smart speaker ownership nearly doubled during the pandemic, increasing from 22 per cent of households in 2020 to 39 per cent earlier this year.

Participants in the research said smart speakers are mainly used to listen to music, radio, news and weather updates. The latest industry figures revealed 13 per cent of all radio listening hours are now via smart speakers.

Respondents generally felt that they listened to the radio more than they had done before and that smart speaker allowed them to listen to a wider range of stations.

Around 27 per cent of smart speaker owners now get their news from their devices. However, most noted their usage of smart speakers to check instant headlines even as they still turn to TV, print or online for in-depth news.

There was a mix of views when it came to personalising content in the device as some appreciated the feature but others found it unsettling.

Those who don’t own a smart speaker feel they don't see the point or rather take it as a luxury rather than a necessity. Others were more worried about eavesdroppers and this was exacerbated by their speaker sometimes talking despite nobody using the wake word.

Others remained wary about the potential for criminals to use smart speakers to steal data, bank details or identities through hacking citing examples that they heard of other technologies such as baby monitors and routers being hacked.