What's the last thing you bought specifically because it had no smart features at all

[Pilgrim]

There's a small but genuinely growing counter trend of people actively seeking out the dumbest possible version of a product on purpose, no app pairing required, no wifi connectivity, no unnecessary sensors quietly reporting data back somewhere, and I'm curious what the last thing was that people here bought specifically for that exact reason

Mine was a basic kitchen scale, every single option in that entire product category at my local store now seems to want to pair with a phone app for nutrition tracking, and I just wanted an accurate number displayed on a screen without creating yet another account or granting yet another app permission to my actual phone

There's a real premium price you often end up paying for this simplicity too, ironically, manufacturers seem to assume anyone specifically seeking out the dumb version of a product must be some kind of discerning niche buyer willing to pay more, rather than treating basic simplicity itself as the actual cost cutting option it logically should be

What actually drives this whole choice for me personally isn't really pure nostalgia or any strong anti tech ideological stance, it's mostly just genuine reliability, a purely mechanical or fully offline device simply has fewer individual things that can actually break or eventually stop being supported by the manufacturer's servers a few years down the road

Curious whether other people are making this exact same choice consciously and deliberately, or whether it mostly just happens by pure accident because the dumb version of a given product genuinely happened to be cheaper or more convenient at the specific moment they went shopping for it

[WildManJericho80]

A basic kitchen scale is such a relatable pick, tried buying one recently and got frustrated by how many options wanted an app account just to display a simple weight measurement on the screen

[Scarlett]

The premium pricing for dumb products irony is real and it's honestly maddening, feels backwards that simplicity somehow costs more than added complexity that most people never even asked for in the first place

[HitmanMatt53]

Bought a purely mechanical watch last year for exactly this same reason, no battery to eventually die, no software that ever needs updating, just gears quietly doing their one simple job reliably for decades

[CodeOracle49]

The reliability argument is honestly the strongest one in this whole debate for me, fewer individual components that can break generally does mean a longer working lifespan for the product overall

[Olivia_36]

Manufacturers pricing simplicity at a premium is really just correctly reading the current market though, if enough people are actively willing to pay extra specifically for basic reliability, that's rational business pricing on their part regardless of how backwards it might feel

[AlexandrZakharyan]

My last deliberately dumb purchase was a proper wired doorbell, made the switch specifically after reading one too many stories about smart doorbell camera footage getting hacked or leaked, simplicity here felt like an actual real security upgrade rather than any kind of downgrade at all