What's your view on smart home gadgets, like voice assistants or smart lights? Worth it, or more trouble than they're worth?

A natural way to answer

I think they can be genuinely useful, especially for things like setting reminders or controlling the heating. However, they can also be unreliable, and not everyone feels comfortable having a microphone in the house. So I'd say it depends on the person.

Key phrases to use

• gets on my nerves — annoys or irritates you“That dripping tap really gets on my nerves.”
• plays up — to stop working properly or behave badly (a device, or a person)“My laptop keeps playing up today.”
• earn their keep — to be useful enough to justify the cost or space they take“These tools really earn their keep.”