They only ever seem to be useful if you do not have free hands (e.g. cooking) which is why they are almost exclusively used as timers (at least in my household). I have tried getting it to read a recipe but that's just cumbersome (I often want to have a quick glance at ingredients, not have someone list all of them in slow succession).
Other actions such as "play stranger things on netflix" seem like useful actions at first, but again only really make sense if you are truly busy with your hands (which you would not be if you are on the couch with the remote near-by). Using the remote to turn on the tv and play something on netflix is often not more than two or three button presses (assuming the show is in your 'continue watching' list, which it usually is if it's something you specifically want to watch).
And turning on lights? Again, a novelty. Unless your house is designed in a weird way where your light switches are on opposite ends of the room you are walking into, it's always faster to just flip the switch when walking into the room than shouting out and waiting for your assistant to do it for you (never mind the fact that shouting to turn on the lights during a bathroom run at night would be highly annoying to other household members).