I've always understood that smart home setups are going to cause gaps in your networks' security, especially if the devices are Wifi-based and connect to an external server. What would be the best risk-mitigation smart home setup? I plan to use something like a home assistant green with the sky connect USB add-on. Is there a most-secure or best smart home protocol? Would something like Zigbee or Z-Wave be better than just regular Wi-Fi?
I don't have the facilities to set up something like a dedicated extra network just for smart devices, or a seperated firewalled LAN just for the devices.
I would only be using things like smart light bulbs, maybe a smart switch, a smart plug or 2, and other basic things like that. Things like cameras, thermostats, security systems, etc will not be on this as I mainly want it to be a place for me to experiment with learning things like these and will only actually be used in one room of my house. I will also try to exclusively buy from brands that don't require me to install some crap-ware bloat app or create an account just to use their products or that don't have other stupid things like that within their devices.
Is a secure (simple) smart home setup even possible?
I know this isn't exactly the best place to ask a question like this, but I feel like this is the most comfortable place I can go with the most highly security / privacy-minded people. Thank you for helping me with this with whatever you can contribute!