In the world of technology, till a few years ago the word ‘smart’ seemed like magic. Smart phone, smart TV, smart watch, smart home… every new thing claims to take us closer to the future. The dream was that the fridge would order milk on its own, the door would open with the mobile and the microwave would respond. But, now the trend of ‘Basic’ things is emerging as opposed to ‘Smart’. That means phones, TVs and appliances that only do their job. Do not stay connected to the internet or app all the time. Youth in western markets including America are returning to basic phones. These contain only calls, messages and some important features. According to Gazelle’s report, sales of such phones in Gen-G increased by 148% between 2021-24. 16% of Gen G adults owned such phones. 28% were willing to buy. Signs of the hype about smart gadgets cooling down in India were visible in the wearable market. According to IDC, India’s wearable market will decline by 11.3% to 119 million units in 2024. Smartwatch shipments fell 34.4%. People are searching for ‘Basic TV’. A screen that only shows what you want to play, and doesn’t track your viewing habits. The reason for this change is not the tightness of the past, but digital fatigue. According to Pew Research, half of America’s teens are online almost all the time. This trend is not visible among technology opponents, but among tech savvy youth. They want to use technology on their own terms. For them, smartness is not connecting everything, but choosing which things to connect and which not. Basic things are not a symbol of backwardness, but of comfort, privacy and control over one’s time. Maybe this will be the next tech revolution – less talkative, but more intelligent. The smart home market in India is currently in a growing trend. In the Copeland 2024 survey in America, 27% people expressed concern over data security in smart devices, whereas in 2022 this figure was 23%. However, smart home is still a growing market in India. It was 3.23 billion dollars (about Rs 31 thousand crore) in 2024, which can reach 16.39 billion dollars (about Rs 1.57 lakh crore) by 2030.
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