Tips for Creating a More Private and Peaceful Home in a Connected World

Go into the average house nowadays, and you will be surrounded by a silent crowd of electronic devices that work quietly in the background. Your kitchen speaker is ready to receive a command, the doorbell camera is monitoring the entrance, the smart TV knows everything you watched yesterday, and cellphones are recharging in every bedroom.

None of these things is bad in itself. However, when it all accumulates, you end up having a house which ideally should provide you with privacy and calmness becoming a place where something is always on and always asking for a piece of your attention.

However, there is a solution to this problem which does not imply throwing all of these gadgets away and moving to the middle of nowhere. In other words, there are a few ways to combine a comfortable connected world and a certain level of privacy and peace.

The following tips can help you start right away.

An Audit of What You Own

To start, you need to check what devices you have in your home and what exactly they do. It is a well-known fact that people buy gadgets without even checking what data these things collect and with whom they share it.

Walk through the rooms in your house and make a list of every device which uses the internet connection. It includes cellphones, laptops, and smart speakers, but also the thermostat, vacuum cleaner, baby monitor, scale, game console, and so on. Next, you need to check the necessity of the device and if it really needs to be connected to the network. You will definitely discover some of your gadgets which were long forgotten.

Moreover, such an audit will show you what accounts are tied to these devices. It means, for example, that a speaker will collect a certain amount of data if it is attached to some account where your calendar or payment methods are stored.

Think About the Placement of Your Gadgets

Privacy and peace are not only about data; they are also about the physical location of certain devices. The fact that you have a camera or microphone installed in your home affects its atmosphere even without conscious effort to monitor your behavior.

Choose rooms which would be free from devices. First of all, these are bedrooms and bathrooms. By leaving them without speakers and cameras, you get an opportunity to have some places in your home where you will not wonder if something is recording you. For example, if you use your cellphone as an alarm clock, it would be better to replace it with a simple and cheap clock, and then charge your cellphone in a different room.

The same concerns the screens.

The idea is that the dominating large screen in the room changes its atmosphere completely and, in most cases, negatively. By moving it, shrinking it, or hiding your television behind the cabinet door, you may get the same effect. It means that the placement of small things can change the atmosphere of the room completely without any cost.

Reduce the Amount of Information Which Your Connected House Is Leaking

Any connected device sends and receives information, and a lot of it shows your habits. Every time you watch a TV show, look for a health symptom, or shop late at night, the information about these actions is being sent through your home network to your internet provider, who has access to this information.

In other words, your internet provider can build a certain profile based on the websites you visit and sell this information to advertisers. Therefore, there is a place for a virtual private network in a private house. Using a VPN is necessary to encrypt your internet traffic and send it through an outside server. The result will be that the internet provider will see that you are connected, but it will not be able to know what websites your family visits.

Using a VPN on your router instead of every device separately will cover all of them at once and without additional effort from your side. It is one of the rare tools which will protect all devices in your household. Of course, it is not a magic coat which can protect you from data collection done by your devices directly, but it is one of the ways to close off one of the largest windows into your daily life which companies can use to get their data.

There are also a few small habits which will work well in combination with this tip:

• Change the default privacy settings provided by new devices, as they are usually designed in a way that makes more data collection possible.
• Turn off all the features which you do not use, as they are often hidden under several menus: voice history, personalized ads, and location sharing, etc.

Secure the Front Door of Your Network

The router of your home network is the gate for all the devices connected to this network, and often it is the most ignored piece of equipment in the household.

Firstly, you should change the default administrator password on the router itself, not only the WiFi password. Give the WiFi network a strong passphrase, and make a separate guest network for both your visitors and smart gadgets. By keeping the cheap smart plug on a different network from your work laptop, you will protect your work laptop if the plug becomes compromised.

Moreover, you need to update the firmware of your router, as manufacturers update security problems over time. If your router is more than five or six years old and it does not receive any updates anymore, it is better to replace it, as it will make a good security investment. The new routers will also help you check all the devices connected to your home network.

Create Quiet Zones and Technology-Free Rituals

The last step of the process is cultural; it means that after all the technical changes, you need to build a calm environment in your house. A peaceful house is not only a house with good settings; it is also a house where people are not constantly directed to the screen.

You can try to create a few technology-free zones and times which will be accepted by all members of your household. Dinner time is one of the options, as well as the first and last hours of the day. You may have a basket near the door where the phones should be kept during meals, or bedrooms could be declared as no-scrolling zones. Such rituals are more effective than any gadget setting, as they change the rhythm of your life completely.

Notifications need special attention in this case, as most applications beg for your attention from the very beginning, and every buzz takes your attention away. Go through your phone and turn off all notifications of those applications which are not used to contact you by real people. It will be surprising how much calmer your room becomes if the devices are not asking you to check them all the time.

Make It Sustainable

The biggest mistake which people make regarding privacy of their home network is the fact that it is treated as a one-time project. People spend a weekend, change all settings, and feel good about it, but never think about this topic again until something goes wrong. The devices are regularly updated, the policy of the company changes, and new gadgets appear as presents, so the situation is changing permanently.

You should set reminders for yourself to review your settings a couple of times a year. Find new devices which appeared in your network silently, review which apps have access to you, and delete all gadgets and accounts which are no longer useful. Treat this activity like cleaning of the closet rather than construction of a fortress. Regular and short cleaning keeps everything manageable and stops the clutter from appearing.

Private and Calm Home Is Available

All of these steps do not require you to get rid of your technology or invest a lot of money. In fact, it asks you to pay attention to the devices in your house and decide on purpose where you want them and what they should do. The simple audit of your gadgets, thoughtful placement of sensors and screens, shielding of your internet traffic, securing your router, and protection of a few quiet areas of your house — this is how you can start having your house again.

The connected world will not go anywhere, and most of us do not want it to. The goal of these recommendations is to define the terms under which it is possible to enter your house. Do that, and you will see that the same connected house may be also the private and peaceful one.