I’m in the same boat as you, but a bunch of my friends have smart speakers. For them it’s a convenience thing + not caring overly much about privacy. The ability to query google, set timers, and play music hands free outweighs the creepy factor.
This reminds me a bit of the environmental issues. Most of my friends are aware of the impacts of flying (CO2) and buying stuff (waste), but the negative end results of these things are just too distant and abstract for them to voluntarily strip themselves of the convenience they provide. The difference of course being that the privacy issues impact mostly just the individual, while the environmental issues impact all. But the psychology of it seems similar.
I think it may be too abstract for humans to understand intuitively, at least until there is some sort of serious concrete consequence that befalls them.
we are finally getting to the point where non-tech people understand the importance of strong passwords. they might fail to actually implement strong passwords, but they can easily understand that it would be really bad if a malicious actor gained access to their banking or email account.
it's harder to understand how large-scale data collection is bad for you as an individual. privacy-minded people oppose it on principle, but for most it's hard to imagine a severe consequence in the short term. targeted ads can be kind of unnerving, but it doesn't exactly get people quaking in their boots.
The big companies and government know this. So long as they don't publicly abuse everyone's data, people won't see a problem. They're building everyone's trust, and making data collection normal.
> The difference of course being that the privacy issues impact mostly just the individual
That misconception is a huge part of the problem. Lack of privacy of society as a whole is way more dangerous than lack of privacy of individuals, because it completely changes the power landscape.
