I have to say Alexa has been successful.

So successful, in fact, that she now seemingly has a better relationship with my boyfriend than I do. Just the other day, I recalled him asking “Hey Alexa…” - followed by her response of “What can I do for you my silly friend?” They seem to have reached a great level of comfort with each other.

I just hope I don’t get replaced.

I’m confident he isn’t the only one adopting Alexa as their newfound sassy and trustworthy friend. The popularity of home assistants is rising and is unquestionably subject to further growth. Not all too surprising, a majority of Alexa users are tech-savvy millennials who claim she helps them #adult.I don’t know about you, but I’m not so sure I want a piece of technology telling me how to live my life. Lately, I can’t help but feel like the oddball out of my age group, though. In all honesty, this SNL skit is essentially what my interactions with voice search tech looks like most of the time.

I know, I know. I may feel like the last Millennial to buy into the whole Alexa thing, but maybe my time will come soon. Especially since 16% of Americans own a smart speaker. That is roughly 39 million people! Not to mention, 72% of people who own a voice-activated speaker say it’s a part of their daily routine - increasing the likelihood of voice search becoming “mainstream.”

Recently, Amazon created Answer Update that now allows Alexa to follow up with a response to a question she couldn’t initially answer. It seems that no question will ever be left unanswered. She basically does it all.

Looks like the odds are stacked against me.

Now, my goal is not to hate on Alexa users (considering there is one very close to me). It just goes to show that we’ve come a long way in technology and before I know it there will be something even better and voice search will be old news. Considering everything, it feels inevitable that I will hop on the bandwagon sooner rather than later. But when it comes to technology adoption, I realized that I’m typically what the industry refers to as a “Laggard.” You can see there are four other types of adopters in the chart below.

In the meantime - though I’ve taken a skeptical stance - I do believe there is great opportunity in voice search for consumers and businesses alike. After all, we are living in The Information Age. People want answers to their inquiries. And they want it done immediately.

We walk around with questions on our minds and a computer in our pocket, literally. Or in this case, on our end tables. Now, instead of typing out my questions, I can communicate directly with a device. How weird! But how revolutionary!

Who knows, maybe in the near future Alexa and I will become better acquainted and she can turn off my lights, pop me some popcorn, adjust my thermostat, and my boyfriend will be the one worried about being replaced.