IELTS Speaking – a piece of technology at home that makes your life easier

I'd have to say the rice cooker. It might sound boring, but in a Vietnamese home, we eat rice almost every day, and it makes life so much easier. I just put the rice and water in, press a button and forget about it. Mine also has a timer, so dinner can be ready when I get home.

Only a few. I have a smart speaker that I mainly use for playing music and setting alarms, and a couple of smart plugs, so I can switch the fan off from my phone. My parents' house has a smart camera at the gate, which they find reassuring. I'm not completely convinced I need more, though.

Not really, to be honest. I can handle simple things, like changing a light bulb or tightening a loose screw, but anything more complicated is beyond me. Usually, I'll watch a YouTube tutorial first and try to fix it myself. If that fails, I call my dad, who's surprisingly handy, or take it to a repair shop.

Yes, especially when we got to do experiments. I still remember the excitement of mixing chemicals in the lab and watching them change colour. Theory lessons were less exciting, since we mostly memorised formulas for exams. But I had a brilliant physics teacher who explained things with everyday examples, which made the subject really click for me.

The piece of technology I'd like to talk about is the robot vacuum cleaner we have at home, the small round machine that moves around the floor by itself and cleans up dust and hair. We got it about two years ago. Actually, it was a present from my older brother to our parents for their wedding anniversary. At first, my mum was quite sceptical. She said she didn't trust a machine to clean properly, and she was worried it would get stuck under the sofa or fall down the stairs. My dad, on the other hand, was fascinated by it and spent the whole first evening just watching it move around the living room. These days, we use it every single day. It's programmed to start automatically at ten in the morning, when everyone is at work or school, so by the time we get home, the floor is clean. Once a week, I empty the dust container and clean the brushes, which only takes a few minutes. We also have an app on our phones, so we can start it or check where it has cleaned even when we're out. If we didn't have it, I think our lives would be noticeably more stressful. Our house gets very dusty because it's near a busy road, and we also have a cat that sheds a lot of fur, so before we had the robot, someone had to sweep and mop almost every day. Usually, that someone was my mum, after a long day at work. Now she has more time to relax in the evenings, and there are far fewer arguments about whose turn it is to clean. Even my mum has completely changed her mind and admits it's one of the best gifts she's ever received.

In theory, they should, and to some extent they do. Washing machines and rice cookers, for example, have saved huge amounts of time, particularly for women, who traditionally did most of the housework. However, I'm not convinced that this extra time has turned into real leisure. In many cases, people simply fill it with more work or more tasks, partly because expectations have risen. We now wash clothes far more often than our grandparents did, for instance. And devices like smartphones have arguably made us busier, not freer. So the effect is real, but smaller than we might expect.

There are quite a few, I think. Smart speakers and cameras are constantly collecting data, sometimes including recordings of private conversations, and users often have no idea how that information is stored or who has access to it. Companies may use it for targeted advertising, or share it with third parties. There's also the risk of hacking. If a smart camera or door lock is poorly protected, criminals could potentially spy on a household or even get inside. That's why I believe people should change default passwords, check privacy settings and think carefully about which devices they really need.

I think there are several reasons. Many older people didn't grow up with digital devices, so things that seem intuitive to younger generations, like swiping or using icons, can feel confusing. They may also be afraid of making mistakes, for example pressing the wrong button and losing money in a banking app. Sometimes it's simply a question of not seeing the point, if their old way of doing things still works. My grandmother, for instance, refused to use video calls until she realised she could see her grandchildren abroad. So patient support and clear benefits make a big difference.

I imagine they'll be far more automated and energy-efficient. Homes might generate their own electricity from solar panels and use smart systems to adjust lighting and temperature automatically, which would cut energy bills. Robots could take over more household chores, like cooking and laundry. As cities become more crowded, homes may also get smaller but more flexible, with furniture that folds away or rooms that change function. That said, I suspect many people will still want some traditional elements, like natural materials and green spaces, because technology alone doesn't make a house feel like a home.