We have half a dozen of them; we use them for listening to music around the house, but largely as remote control devices for controlling lights, heaters and the furnace. We have paid about $10 a piece for the alexa enabled switches and outlets which control up to 15 amps of 120v or 240v electricity.
We have a house we are fixing up to sell and one we have refurbished to move into. We turn the heaters and furnace off with the Alexa when we leave and turn them on at the other location so that the house will be warm when we arrive. This winter alone this has saved us more than what we paid for the devices.
There are many other uses, but this winter alone the savings in our oil, gas and electric bill has more than paid for them. If we were going to have a conversation that we needed absolute privacy for, I would unplug or mute which ever device was within listening range.
I find it very amusing that people are so worried about the Alexa devices when there is ample evidence that cell phones apps operate in the same way...
Set it up to turn lights on all over the house. Then when something goes "bump in the night", you turn 'em all on at once. If the intruder is human, you now have a clear target, if he doesn't take off.
You saved 60 bucks to get owned? Wow you are cheap.
you are correct cell phones are just as dangerous.