Your average consumer’s brains would have been dribbling from their ear before the comma in that last sentence.

I can understand that very easily: I'm that average consumer, no doubt about that ;) but I was also keenly aware my privacy was worth more than the convenience of me using whatever trendy gizmo without me fully controlling it. So, not being able to control those tools I decided to use none. Like I do not use any smart-anything.

Edit: rephrasing for clarity's sake.