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19 Everyday Annoyances That Secretly Control Your Life

These sneaky obstacles steal your time and sanity daily!

6 min readJun 23, 2025
Photo by Adrian Swancar on Unsplash

I glare at my monitor writhing and squirming, eyes squinted and teeth clenched, as the ninth indistinct image of a traffic-lighted corner appears on the screen, another day, another CAPTCHA telling me it can tell a robot from a human, while I struggle to prove that I can tell asphalt from air, one square at a time.

While the headlines scream that digital tools save time and effort, each click lets me know there is one more thing in the way of getting from desire to accomplishment.

Today, it is time to name every invention, rule, and activity that seems purposely created to ruin everyone else’s lives.

Technology Pretends To Help While Secretly Selling Friction

1. CAPTCHAs That Call Your Humanity Into Question

A quick login now involves a mini exam to locate the bike frame minus the seat, ignore the marshmallow posing as a pedestrian, repeat until the timer perpetually mocks you.

And far from blocking bots, these tests teach algorithms while pulling our collective patience.

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Shaant
Shaant

Written by Shaant

Life’s too short for dull words. So, I write with 3Ws: Wit, Wisdom, and Wanderlust.

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