I've definitely seen situations where tech dependency complicated things. Last winter, my neighbor's smart water shut-off valve failed to respond during a power outage because the Wi-Fi was down. Luckily, he had installed a manual bypass valve (which I always recommend). Smart tech is great for convenience and early warnings, but for critical plumbing emergencies, it's wise to have manual backups or at least know how to override the system manually. Better safe than sorry...
I've had similar experiences with tenants relying too heavily on smart tech. Had one tenant who installed a fancy app-controlled thermostat—worked great until the internet went down and they couldn't adjust the heat manually. Ended up getting a midnight call because their apartment was freezing. Lesson learned: convenience is nice, but always have a manual override or backup plan. Tech's helpful, sure, but nothing beats good old-fashioned common sense...and maybe a sweater or two.
