Is the connected home recession-proof?

Our cover story this week looks at the evolution of the home — well, at least some homes — into hyperconnected, consumer electronics-overloaded “bat caves.”

Chances are your home, especially if you have kids, looks a bit like this too: broadband, Wi-Fi, multiple PCs and laptops, a home entertainment setup or two complete with large-screen HDTV, a few smaller screens tucked away in corners, and a couple of game consoles.

With the headlines full of concerns about the economy and the trade press looking for signs of a corresponding telecom spending slowdown, there is sure to be some level of decrease in demand for communications services and devices in the coming months — holiday season or no holiday season.

The interesting question is just how hard will the so-called “connected home” be hit - in other words, are communications devices and services these days a necessity, or a luxury? What will hit the chopping block first (if necessary), and what will be spared?

The question is even more interesting when you consider just how much today's communications technology blurs the line between entertainment and utility.

Sure, you may surf the Web for fun, but could your kids do their homework — or could you work from home — without it? How about mobile services? Now that a connected family is used to being accessible to one another at all times, is that capability a requirement for safety or just a convenience? If entertainment spending falls, does that plan for an upgraded home entertainment system hit the back burner, or is it moved up as the family hunkers down to ride out the economic storm? And this doesn't even touch on vital new services such as telemedicine or home security. Do they stay or do they go?

As we detailed in the cover story, this might all be a moot point in the nation's many “unconnected homes.” In fact, worrying about the fate of fanciful communications services and devices — if not basic broadband — seems beside the point in many households worried about jobs, money and health care in a down economy.

But we'll see. Consumer decisions in the coming months, made in the real world and with real economic pressures on the line, undoubtedly will go a long way toward determining just which connected home services are essential and which are luxuries for good times.