Smart Homes, yes or no?

[Teh One Who Knocks]

I like a certain aspect of it, but I have no trust for Google or Alexa to not spy on me for marketing information.

I like the idea of it, but not allowing any company to listen in my house

This.

I have an Echo Dot I got for Christmas a couple years ago. It's still in the box next to the box of smart plugs.

At some point I will get a couple of Wifi cameras to keep tabs on the island spot when I'm not there but I really have no interest in any of the "listening" devices. I even have the wifi updates turned off on my TV.

You know, unless you stop using smartphones and COMPLETELY de-Google yourself, you're already getting tracked every second of every day you are 'connected'. And although yes, the Alexa and Google devices are always listening, unless you're a criminal planning nefarious things, if you think that each home with an assistant device like Alexa has their own FBI agent assigned to listening to everything you say in front of it, then you should probably start hanging out with FBD more.