Voice recognition tech is becoming increasingly advanced, leading more people to use it in their everyday lives; the virtual assistant market is set to be worth $3.07 billion by 2020, and Amazon expects to sell ten million Echo devices in 2017 alone. But do people really want to chat to their devices?

There must be a fair few Kindles getting dusty in drawers somewhere, because e-book sales declined by nearly 20% last year. But there could still be a happy ending for digital publishing as audiobooks have surged in popularity – sales grew by over 31% in 2016.

Networked screens are now present in nearly every aspect of our lives – they’re in our pockets, in cars and, increasingly, on our wrists and home appliances. But does everything really need a digital display? Is there a better, more human way to interact with tech than prodding at a visual interface?

With 60% of Americans using the voice-activated concierge service on their smartphone every day, people are growing accustomed to the idea of interacting with a virtual assistant. Tapping into the trend, Amazon has launched a smart speaker that acts like a home assistant.