Tech’s meant to make life easier. However, sometimes, instead of solving problems, it creates a few new ones that we never asked for. Who decided the fridge needs Wi-Fi to do its job, or that your toilet should think for itself? Not us. Here are 18 instances where technology has made life worse instead of better. That’s not to say all technology is bad, but it’s certainly not perfect.
Smart Locks That Freeze
Trying to open your front door with a dead phone in -10°F doesn’t go well. This is mostly because smart locks usually look great until winter shows up, and the Bluetooth connection quits working. It leaves you with no keyhole and no backup plan. You’re just stuck outside, questioning your life choices. Was it worth it? Probably not.
Auto-Flush Toilets That Flush Too Early
Some electronic toilets are a little too excited to do their job, and if you shift even slightly, you’ll cause them to flush. The water splashes everywhere. Some airport bathrooms have sensors that are so sensitive that they’ll flush multiple times before you even stand up, which is never nice. It’s even worse if the sensor’s busted because there’s hardly ever a manual button to use instead.
Automatic Faucets That Won’t Turn On When You Need Them
Speaking of restrooms, no matter how much you wave your hands, the water just doesn’t come out of some automatic faucets. They might work on the first try. They might force you to try five different angles while someone else walks up and washes their hands immediately. Either way, it’s annoying having to literally rinse and repeat each time.
Grocery Store Self-Checkout That Calls For Help Constantly
You scan a banana on the self-checkout, and it freaks out, claiming that there’s an unexpected item in the bagging area. But it never works when you try to fix it. Nope, now you’ve summoned the red light of shame and need some help from one of the workers. These machines were supposed to speed things up. However, most of the time, you’re just standing there waiting for a real human anyway.
Cloud-Based Thermostats That Stop Working Without Internet
As soon as your WiFi goes down, your thermostat essentially becomes a wall decoration. Many cloud-based thermostats need a stable connection to adjust the temperatures remotely, so it’s a big problem if you’re not home and the internet goes out. There’s no way to stop your house from turning into a freezer or a sauna from your phone alone. Honestly, it might be easier to use an analog one that has a physical timer.
Touchscreens in Cars That Replace Volume Knobs
You may just want to turn the music down, but your car insists on loading three menus first. Many new vehicles have swapped out physical buttons for touchscreens, mostly because they look a lot sleeker. Unfortunately, they’re not so great when the system freezes and you’re stuck listening to the radio on full blast. There’s no way to shut it off unless you pull over. Plus, there’s something a lot nicer about using a physical button than tapping a screen.
Medical Portals That Lock You Out After One Wrong Password
It doesn’t matter if you’re simply trying to check your blood test results, as the hospital’s online portal will kick you out after one incorrect login. Then, it’ll make you answer security questions from 2012, like “What was your childhood best friend’s pet’s name?” It’s a real hassle. Eventually, many people end up calling tech support to get access to their own information. The days of paper documents were a lot simpler.
Smart Fridges That Are Just Way Too Much Work
You open the box expecting a fridge, but instead, it’s a whole project that involves setting up the Wi-Fi and creating an account. Then, you have to agree to the privacy policy and download an app. Maybe, just maybe, if the stars align, you can finally change the temperature. It’s no wonder that some people just gave up and used them like regular fridges. However, even that’s annoying. Half the buttons won’t work without a connection.
Digital Picture Frames That Require Monthly Subscriptions
You may think a digital picture frame is a good idea for your Grandma, as it’s cute and should be relatively easy to use. Unfortunately, that’s not true. You need to create logins and approve email invites, while also paying for a subscription just to keep it working. Missing a payment means Grandma can’t see new photos. These frames become a full-time tech support job no one asked for.
Smart TVs That Show Ads On the Home Screen
Although you paid for the TV and the streaming services, somehow, your screen still fills up with random ads. And that’s before you even open Netflix. Some of them will start playing sound right when you turn it on, and it’s as annoying as it sounds. Any apps you try to click on have been bumped down to make room for a promo about something else. Do we really need all these ads?
Delivery Robots That Block Sidewalks
Food-delivery bots are supposed to make takeout more convenient, as they require a lot more physical work from people. However, people usually trip over them or get stuck behind them on narrow sidewalks. These robots will freeze when they see a curb, and they’ll stop in front of a stroller, causing delays. It’s worse when they glitch. They just sit there, blinking until someone physically drags them out of the way.
Digital Menus That Don’t Load in Restaurants
It’s nice to go out to eat, until you realize that the restaurant only has a QR menu and nothing physical. You try scanning it, but nothing works. Maybe the Wi-Fi is bad, or maybe the site’s broken, but either way, you’re stuck, and you can’t order anything. Of course, staff tell you to “try reloading.” Yet your phone has only 4% battery, and you’re getting hungrier by the second. What used to take two minutes now depends on your signal strength and PDF readers.
Smart Lighting Systems That Break During Power Flickers
After the power flickers for half a second, your smart lighting systems might stop working. That leaves you with the bedroom lights on at full brightness at 3 AM. If you had a normal bulb, this wouldn’t be happening, but now you have to fiddle with your phone to reconnect things. In some cases, you might have to reprogram every bulb in the house after an outage. All of that because you want to change the color of the living room lights one time.
Wireless Printers That Constantly Lose Connection
What is with Wi-Fi printers? Sure, they look nice, but they’re a real pain to use whenever you need to print something, as they’ll vanish from the network. You restart it and restart your router, then reinstall the app, but nothing. It finally shows up before saying you need to buy a digital subscription to print anything. Plugging it in with a cable doesn’t help, either, because that port is just for firmware updates.
Digital Parking Meters That Require a Smartphone
After you park, you reach for the meter, and then you realize there isn’t one, just a sign that tells you to download an app. They don’t care that you have no data or very little battery left. That’s not even the worst part, though, because the parking app is always slow and they hardly ever save your card details. It’s enough to make you give up. Let’s just hope you don’t get a ticket.
AI Chatbots That Waste Time Instead Of Helping
The majority of websites have chatbots that pop up instantly, claiming that they’ll help you. But not really. After you type a normal question, these chatbots give you a weird canned response and a link to the FAQ. It doesn’t matter if you rephrase it because you’ll get the same thing. After five tries, you finally type “HUMAN” in all caps, and it still replies, “I can help with that!” No, you can’t. Just get out of the way.
App-Linked Trash Cans That Stop Opening When Offline
It’s just a trash can, so why does it need Wi-Fi? These app-linked trash cans don’t always open unless the app’s working or the motion sensor is charged, and if either one fails, you’ll have to wait. Now, you need to reboot your trash. Don’t even get us started on having to empty them, too. Some trash cans don’t even have a manual open button, so you’re forced to crack them open by force.
Phones Without Headphone Jacks
Bluetooth earbuds often drop out during calls, and you’ll have to try reconnecting while the person on the other end is asking if you’re still there. It’s worse when you’re in public and your battery dies because that’s it. There’s no backup option. Your phone has no jack. What used to be simple now depends on a stable wireless signal and two charged devices. Oh, and a pocket full of luck.
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