Singaporeans love their digital doorbells and home cameras, but afraid of getting hacked

Despite being a nation gripped with significant levels of anxiety over personal data collection, we sure do love our internet-connected security devices.

Edge cloud services provider Limelight Networks recently released its State of Digital Lifestyles report, which collated findings of online habits and opinions gathered from consumer surveys in France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States. 

The global sentiment points mostly to the agreement that online digital technology has made a positive impact on their lives. Even so, security concerns remain, alongside frustrations over adapting to this new internet-fueled age. 

As lofty as Singapore’s Smart Nation ambitions are, we hold the highest degree of concern that our personal information can be stolen via digital assistants like Amazon Echo and Google Home — 59.6 percent to be exact. Folks in other nations are less so, with consumers in Italy and Japan expressing lower levels of privacy concerns about data collected by virtual assistants. 

Besides protecting our personal data, it appears that we’re also super concerned about protecting our homes. Ownership of internet-enabled security devices — like smart doorbells and surveillance cameras — is higher here than any other country, according to the findings. Over 26 percent of respondents in Singapore already own one today, while another 45.3 percent stated that it’s on their wishlist. 

But honestly, our paranoia lies more in the possibility of someone breaking into internet-connected devices. When asked about the exact worries they might have about having things like smart locks and lightbulbs, respondents in Singapore are anxious about getting hacked. 

On to other highlights. Music is the most popular type of online digital content in every country surveyed except Singapore, where movies and TV shows are accessed most often — more so than apps, e-books or video games. 

Naturally, we’re all guilty of being addicted to mobile phones. Though we’re not as obsessive as consumers in India, nearly half of the respondents in Singapore are unwilling to stop using mobile phones, even if it’s just for a day. Tablets, on the other hand, are a lot easier to give up. 

What’s telling about the preference of digital subscriptions here is that consumers in Singapore are not very willing to pay for music and news content. Musicians and journalists need to pay the bills too, people.

ilyas@asiaone.com