Home is Where the Heart – and a Lot More Connected Devices – Are Today

Digital engagement is on the upswing — provided you’re gainfully employed.  And among the most “wired” conduits of daily life, well, that would be home sweet home.

In the latest monthly excursion into the Connected Economy, where we survey a population-based sample of roughly 2,500 U.S. consumers, we’ve calculated that the overall growth of connectivity from November 2021 through this past August has surged by 16%. That growth has been driven almost exclusively by employed consumers, which might come as no surprise, given the fact that it takes money to keep all those devices, subscriptions, apps, hardware and software up and running.

Get the Report: The ConnectedEconomy Monthly Report: The Employment Effect

As for what we get done at home, aided by technology: We found that back-to-school and work routines prompted U.S. consumers to invest in voice-activated devices to manage household chores in August. Eight percent more consumers used those devices in August than they did in July — which means that 88 million consumers, total, used them.

That increased activity has boosted the “Live” pillar of the Connected Economy significantly, as seen in the graph below.

And drilling down a bit, we can see each individual, automated, tech-enabled task has been on the rise, from vacuuming to monitoring home security.

Read more: The ConnectedEconomy Monthly Report: The Employment Effect