There are some good reasons to have a washing machine connected. I have the washer and the dryer connected. It means I get notified when they complete their cycles and I can go swap all the clothes over. The time cycles are not specific (could take and hour, could take 3) because the monitoring system checks for water soiling and weight, moisture, etc. (they like to call it AI but it’s not). I can also check on its progress and perform other cycles if it reports things. So there are positives, and as the article showed, they OP’s machine was not using the data he showed.