Internet of Things – IoT Advantages and Disadvantages – 2021

IoT( Internet of Things) has become very popular in the pandemic, as it reduces interaction between people. It helps connect things without the need for multiple people to work on the same thing. It also provides a feature to control things remotely.

What is IoT?

The meaning of the Internet of Things is taking all the physical components and things in the world and connecting them to the internet.

An internet connection is an amazing thing, it gives us all sorts of ease that just weren’t possible before. If you’re from the '90s, think of your mobile phone back then before it was a smartphone. You could call & text, sure, but now you can watch any movie or listen to any song all in the palm of your hand.

The confusion comes not because the topic is narrow but because it’s so broad. It can be hard to pin down the concept in your head when there are so many examples and possibilities in IoT.

To help clarify, it’s important to understand the benefits of connecting things to the internet and its drawbacks.

Advantages of IoT

Monitor Data

The primary and main advantage of IoT is monitoring. It helps us Know the precise quantity of supplies or the air quality in your home, it can also provide more data that could not have previously been possible to collect easily.

For instance, knowing that you are low on printer ink could save you another trip to the store in the near future. Also, monitoring the expiration of products will improve safety.

Ease of Access

Right now, you can easily gain the required information in real-time, from (almost) any location you are at. It only takes a smart device and internet connection.

We use Google Maps to see our location, instead of asking a person in real life. Booking tickets is simpler than ever. Information is also easily accessible, even from the latest scientific research, or business analysis. It is only a click away.

Speedy Operation

All this data pouring in enables us to complete multiple tasks with amazing speed. For example, IoT makes automation effortless. Smart industries automate repetitive tasks, thus allowing employees to invest their time and effort into more challenging things.

Adapting to New Standards

As IoT is an ever-changing topic, its changes are minimal compared to the other techs of the high-tech world. Without IoT, it would be complicated for us to keep track of all the latest things.

Better Time Management

Overall, it is a clever time-saving tool.

We can look up the latest news on our phones during our daily commute, or check a blog about our favorite pastime, purchase an item in an online shop, we can do almost all the things from the palm of our hands.
Eventually, we end up with much more time for us.

However, nothing is perfect.

Automation and Control

Due to physical objects being connected and controlled digitally and centrally with wireless technology structure, there is a huge amount of automation and control in the workings. Without human interference, the machines are communicating with each other providing faster and timely output.

Saving Money

Another main advantage of IoT is saving money. If the cost of the tagging and monitoring machines are less compared with the amount of money saved, this is the reason for the Internet of Things being very widely adopted.

IoT mainly aids to be helpful to people in their daily life by making their devices communicate with each other in an efficient manner thereby saving and conserving energy and cost.

Allowing the data to be communicated and shared between devices and then translating it into our required way, makes our systems efficient.

Disadvantages of IoT

Data Breach

Having access to data is excellent. Unfortunately, our personal data is more exposed. A credit card number is the most compromised information, followed by a debit card number.

Data breaches are stressful. Companies also worry about them and can lose trust if their details are compromised by their clients. The worst devices are said to be: off-brand IoT gadgets, second-hand smart devices, and suspicious apps.

Dependence on Technology

IoT is mainly dependent on the internet connection. When there is none, it can’t be used.

On the other hand, we have become primarily dependent on the IoT’s everyday usage. Business and private lives are also dependent on IoT.

If we don’t get access to the desired information quickly, we become upset, even about the most unnecessary content. IoT has contributed to the great decrease in our attention spans.

Complexity in Operation

IoT may seem to be managing tasks with ease, a lot of complex operations are done behind it. If by mistake the software makes a wrong calculation, this will affect the rest of the process.

The above-mentioned can be very critical sometimes. We don’t know how to deal with the wrong temperature in our home.

At worst, an error code in water dam software could cause a disastrous flood.

That is the reason, many times a mistake in IoT is not always easy to debug.

Our Safety

Imagine if a clever hacker changes your medicine prescription. Or if a store automatically ships you a product that you are allergic to, or a flavor that you do not like, or a product that is already expired. As a result, safety is ultimately in the hands of the consumer to verify.

As all the household appliances, industrial machinery, public sector services like water supply and transport, and many other devices all are connected to the Internet, a lot of information is available on it. This information is prone to attack by hackers. It would be very disastrous if private and confidential information is accessed by unauthorized intruders.

IoT has brought us many amazing things and it continues to surprise us in lots of sectors: business, healthcare, our private lives. As for the downsides, now that you are more aware of them, try to keep those under control. Protect your data and be aware of how automation and easy access can affect you or your business.

Inter Compatibility

As devices from various manufacturers will be interconnected to each other, the issue of compatibility in tagging and monitoring increases. This disadvantage can be overcome if manufacturers make a common standard, but there is still a possibility that the technical problems may still persist.

Nowadays, we have wireless-enabled devices and compatibility problems still exist even in this technology! Compatibility issues may result in people buying devices from a different manufacturer, leading to its monopoly in the market.

Lesser Employment of Menial Staff

The non-educated workers and helpers may lose their jobs as an effect of automation of daily activities. This can lead to unemployment in society.

This is a problem with the overexposure of any technology and can be overcome with education. With daily activities getting automated, naturally, there will be fewer requirements of human labor, primarily, workers and less educated staff.

Technology Takes Control of Life

Our lives are increasingly controlled by technology and will be dependent on it. The younger generation is already addicted to technology for every little work to be done. We have to decide how much of our daily lives are we willing to mechanize and be controlled by technology.

Scenarios: Imagine a scenario when:

Your car can identify that you have an issue with some components; it contacts the technician and sends the location, and also informs you by sending a message on your phone!

Your alarm rings at 6:30 am; you wake up and switch it off. As soon as you switch off your alarm, it conveys to the geyser to heat water at a temperature you prefer and also the coffee maker starts brewing coffee!

You are on your way while returning home from work and you use an app on your mobile to switch on the lights, the AC in your home, and tune the TV to your favorite channel so that your house is ready to welcome you before you even open your door!

What would really make a vehicle “smart” would be if it could alert owners when their food is about to reach their expiry date, for example. Or perhaps it could refer to an online calendar and make orders on a regular basis for certain items to be delivered.

Conclusion

As IoT has quite a few disadvantages, its advantages of saving the consumer time and money can’t be ignored. So in the near future, it will be very common when the Internet Of Things will be in everyday use in daily lives. Efforts are going on already to overcome its disadvantages.

These are just a few benefits of the Internet of Things. From the blog, we learned that it opens possibilities to enhance the quality of life in various aspects. But it is essential that we use this technology in a proper manner to make this technology work the best for us.

Thank you so much for spending your valuable time reading my blog. I truly appreciate it. Until next time!

Have a nice day!

Tags : Iot