The downfall of smart TVs: From promises of seamless viewing to ad tool on steroids

efore we start talking about smart TV technology, let's take a short trip down memory lane and recall what television was like without it: it's the early 2000s, your favorite show is on, the action builds to a climax, you're on the edge of your seat.... and there it is, the dreaded commercial break.

There was literally nothing you could do about it except keep switching channels back and forth and cursing silently. You felt helpless and annoyed.

Not an idiot box…

The advent of user-friendly smart TV in the late 2000s felt like a breath of fresh air. It allowed viewers to stream what they wanted and when they wanted, play music and even browse the web. The only thing you had to do was to install a streaming app such as Netflix or Hulu (most smart TVs already come with preloaded apps) and enjoy your favorite content with minimum distractions and ads… Oh. Wait.

...but a smart data harvester

Smart TVs might have invaded almost every home on the promise of customized and seamless viewing experience, but, in essence, they are not much different from their bulkier and dumber predecessors. Right from the get-go TV vendors have been conditioning their smart brainchildren to collect user data to personalize ads and sometimes directly deliver them to viewers' screens. To do so, TV manufacturers have been tracking user behavior through a variety of tools, chipping away at their privacy.