Technology is pretty mind-blowing for the majority of us. The way it seems to just know what to do โ you can leave it to it, and it will do exactly what you ask of it. The majority of us donโt even know how technology works; we just let it get on with whatever itโs supposed to. Which is why itโs nothing short of hilarious when technology malfunctions and produces something very unlike what you were expecting.
Weโre taking a look at some of the most laughable mistakes and malfunctions of the tech we couldnโt live without today, so sit back and prepare to have a giggle.
1. Stubborn microwave
Late at night, many of us have wondered whether technology is secretly out to take over the world. This microwave certainly seems to think for itself. Perhaps this person attempted to reheat last nightโs takeaway pizza and their microwave was just trying to do the best thing for their health.
Nobody is safe from the โI am not a robotโ test anymore. Even if you use your Whereโs Waldo skills to successfully suss out the traffic lights on images taken 20 years ago, and are rewarded with a big happy tick for your efforts, you may still fail ultimately. It just depends what mood your computer is in, usually.
Unless MSN has a not-so-secret dark side, this heading and image were not intended to sit next to one another. Someone must have had a firm talking-to after such an unfortunate blunder, surely.
Itโs always nice to know your phone is there for you when you need it. Like 155 days after your message failed to send. Because of course, that message will still be highly relevant today, and if you resend it successfully, you can continue the conversation where you left off.
Itโs always reassuring to read clear, comprehensible digital messages at a tube station. Like this one, which reads like some sort of blackmail threat from Windows. Computer owner, beware.
When you see Siri communications like this, you have to question why a bot would ever choose to take the long, complex route to come up with a ridiculous answer, when they could have just gone the easy way and saved us all the hassle. Weโve never heard of โquadrillion kilometre US dollars squaredโ, but weโd be interested to see physical evidence of such a thing.
Research is needed to support why this particular glitch is so unrealistic. 3 kilometres is about 9842.5 feet, and takes the average person just over half an hour to walk. If you ran very quickly, you could cover the distance in 10 to 15 minutes. In no way, shape or form could you walk the distance in one minute โ so stop being so unrealistic, Google.
Some technology thinks itโs too smart for its own good. This personโs school cafeteriaโs survey was insistent that all pupils were female, and it wasnโt afraid to say it. Unless they happen to be at an all-girls school, the chances of this are very slim.
Anyone who had to use Turnitin will know the tense wait while the plagiarism detector does its thing. Did you manage to cite everything correctly? What if one of your sentences reads a bit too similarly to something else on the internet (which you definitely did not copy)? Imagine being this guy, who was penalised for putting the word โtheโ in his work. Weโre not sure we know a good synonym for that.
Itโs true that you really do learn something new every day. Who knew that Despacito, the summer anthem of 2019, is actually the national anthem of Bulgaria? Oh, technology, where would we be without your extensive general knowledge?
Someone call IT support โ the crystal ballโs playing up again. This mystical artefact at a Harry Potter exhibit isnโt quite creating its intended impression. Unfortunately it seems that the performer quit unexpectedly. Ah, the reliability of technology.
Well, this is awkwardโฆ It seems that this person managed to view the location of a โcool signโ before the sign itself was revealed. Instead, we get a glimpse of a random computer file, which informs us that weโre in for an absolute treat.
Even coping with one train stop is annoying enough as it is, so imagine the horror of learning that your train is set to make a grand total of 9,223,372,036,854,775,798 stops on your journey from A to B. Once logic kicked in, youโd realise that you were reading an error, but the initial shock must have been upsetting for this person.
We all know the importance of a good password, but it can be a bit annoying when youโve been creative with numbers, symbols and all the fancy stuff, only to be told that your word of choice needs to be longer. But if you think youโve had it bad, try being this guy. a 255 character-long password is something else entirely.
This personโs weather app is like that family member who always insists the windows are wide open in the winter because โitโs hotter than a sauna in hereโ. Weโre not quite sure weโd consider -999 degrees (an obvious glitch) to be โpleasantโ ourselves, but each to their own.
Anyone who does a morning Subway commute will know the feeling of being only one breath away from a small breakdown. As if travelling in confinement with a load of strangers wasnโt bad enough, this lovely message was on hand to make this personโs commute even cheerier.
This glitched sign has managed to make an entirely innocent dentistโs advert into something a little awkward. To make a valid point, the woman does look a little too happy to be sedated as it is, which certainly doesnโt help matters.
Itโs never fun being a minus in anything, but a minus in messages is something else. Trying to understand the physics behind this is befuddling. Best to just shrug it off and blame a tech malfunction.
When the pressure gets too much, fight or flight kicks in. Some people kick up a fuss, while others, like this computer, quietly take their leave. Thereโs no knowing when heโll be back, but itโs best to busy yourself with something else until heโs ready for responsibility again.
This personโs antivirus software seems to have taken on the role of a government official during a crisis. โYes, everything is fine, I can absolutely assure you of the fact.โ Meanwhile, just down the street, chaos continues to unfold.
If youโve never jammed to โSystem Preferencesโ, youโre missing out โ itโs an absolute banger. Some words of advice: turn it up loud and play it through your highest quality speakers. Play it for your mates, and itโll be the most requested song of the year.
Many of us wonder exactly what our pets get up to when weโre away from home, and it seems this person has finally found out. Logically, based on data from their Doggo Tracker, their dog Nutmeg is skilled in the art of teleportation. Either that, or heโs just a very fast runner.
Weโre curious to know exactly what this website was selling, as it seems very keen for the product to be used in Iraq. Either that, or a very biased glitch has occurred. You have the choice of Iraq (9 times) or 8 other random countries.
Because we all want to learn that our heart has stopped. There has quite clearly been a bit of a mix-up here. What isnโt so clear is why this personโs phone thinks itโs โgreatโ that their heart rate is at a steady 0.
We fear that one day, Snapchatโs filters will be massively toned down, because letโs face it, they often produce terrifying results. Anyone who has face-swapped with their baby or their dog can attest to this. This man managed to create something truly horrifying with a filter that somehow extended his face onto his lower chin area.
Google Maps doesnโt always quite get it right. To be fair, taking endless photos and managing to merge them into a three-dimensional representation of what the world actually looks like must be pretty tough. That still doesnโt make these roller-coaster bridges any less hilarious. How much is a ticket?
We can normally rely on Google to provide us with the closest options for whatever we need, but in this personโs case, Google clearly thought they were due a road trip. Weโre not sure that anyone would be prepared to drive 34 hours in a medical emergency from Sweden to Bulgaria.
Because it makes complete sense that your phone would notify you to let you know that you shanโt be receiving any notifications. The irony is not lost on us. We would suggest a silent notification in the future, or better still โ no notification at all!
Itโs always pretty amusing when an app malfunctions and the visuals get a bit crazy. This personโs Scooter app created a cyclone of scooter and bike options across their city. Looks kind of fun, but it definitely wonโt pass a health and safety inspection.
Hereโs proof that as clever as the likes of Siri can seem, theyโre only really repeating back what we tell them. So if you ask your own Siri for a reminder for dye, you best believe sheโll remind you to die when the time comes around. Sheโs always there for you.
Checking out the maps on your food delivery app is a time of anticipation. So imagine this personโs mixed feelings when they discovered their driver was five minutes away โ then noticed their โlocationโ on the map and realised they were several states away. Two words: call support.
You didnโt know that Netflix was a fan of awkwardly dark comedy? Hereโs all the proof you need. Weโre not quite sure thatโs the right caption. Just an inkling.
Online quizzes are fun until they try to demean your impeccable knowledge with their ridiculous logic. This person somehow managed to answer an extra question correctly, and was still given a โyou triedโ metaphorical pat on the back for having a score of 107%. Go figure.
The sarcasm from some of these bots is real, I tell you. They genuinely do seem to have their own personalities. Why else would Siri waste someoneโs time like this? Nothing but rudeness.
Isnโt Christmas breathtaking? The whites, the blues, the โquitโ signโฆ Now wait just a minute. Somethingโs gone wrong here. Weโre not quite sure that this is the tree people had signed up to get a glimpse of. Someone fix it, quick.
Well, isnโt that a reassuring pop-up for a Monday morning. It seems that this personโs computer has malfunctioned to the point of sharing messages in rhyme. Thereโs only one solution: burn it and get a new one.
Okay, we did some math here, and it turns out there are 168 hours in a week. According to this guyโs screen time stats, he spent 107 of these hours on his settings. That would mean he was sacrificing sleep to hang out on his settings page. Something seems a little odd here, and weโd like to think it was with the phone, not the userโฆ
Uber is a life saver for so many reasons, but when our phones donโt quite have the right location vibes (or whatever the technical term is), Uberโs map can display some pretty hilarious results. Weโd like to think this guyโs driver isnโt really deep sea exploring.
One of the most frustrating things in the world is when you enter a wrong password and you canโt try again for another 24 hours. Even more annoying is when that password is correct, but your phone insists otherwise. But this person has it even worse than that โ they need to wait three and a half weeks before theyโre allowed to try again. Good old technology.
If you ever try and set reminders on your phone, youโve probably been in a similar situation to this. Sometimes it seems like Google and Siri want to play. And by play, we mean play with your mind. In an unfriendly way.
According to this personโs flight map, theyโre set to rocket-launch into space just north-west of Hawaii. We donโt know whether weโre more disturbed by the map or annoyed about this womanโs hair, which is definitely an invasion of personal space. Ah, the joys of flying.
Look, no-one ever stops to think about just how hard it is to be a computer. Especially computers for those of us with office jobs. Computers have to put their metaphorical feet down at some point. This oneโs going on strike.
Communicating with a phone really is the highlight of anyoneโs day. Who wouldnโt want to exchange โOKsโ with their device throughout life? Itโs like the โOKโ scene from The Fault in Our Stars, except non-verbal.
On the split second after receiving this message, you would genuinely wondering if your phone was announcing something that only the cleverest of bots had so far figured out. A world-wide time freeze! The apocalypse is coming! Oh, wait โ itโs just the Time appโฆ
This person got full marks on their test. 19 out of 19. Yet theyโre still apparently inaccurate by 0.0000000000000%. How was this data figured out? Is there a secret unanswered question? Do they need to get 20 out of 19? Or are math quizzes destined to fail us?
I mean, failing successfully is a bit of a contradiction of terms, but it technically is possible. Whether this computer was actually in a good state of mind when it coded out this message, we canโt be sure. The likelihood is no.
Weโre slightly confused here. How else would you explain the shrug emoji other than what it is? โPerson holding up handsโ? โNon-committal emojiโ? Either way, this person has landed themselves in an ironic situation. Best to just copy and paste whatโs on the screen.
We know whatโs happened here: the โ0โ is almost always supposed to be an actual number. Which changes the context of the text to something much friendlier and far less hostile. When this person starts racking up the likes, theyโll have Tinder back on their side again.
This computer seems to be suggesting that the user canโt claim to be 21, because someone aged 21 already exists. Because of course, there is only ever one person aged 21 in the world at any given time. Weโre not sure how this can be resolved.
This person experienced every personโs dream come true when their 30% coupon code ended up taking a little more than 30% offโฆ hello, 98% discount! Our advice here is to take it and leave, before someone realises the mistakeโฆ
Windows is supposedly known for being glitch-free, but weโre pretty certain nobodyโs toolbar should be looking like that. Half those icons donโt even make sense โ and a question mark is always a bad sign. Log it off and on again, and itโll be okay for a bit.
Isnโt it amazing when you can go back in time and send or receive a message yesterday? Well, no, because itโs not possible. This personโs phone seems to think it is, though. Itโs probably time for the dreaded system update.
Downloading software is never an easy task. Itโs pretty horrifying when your computer estimates itโll take several hours to complete a download, never mind an infinite amount of time. This person might be worth giving up before they even get started.
Hereโs another example of a miscalculation of screen time. When we last checked, 1 + 1 + 1 didnโt make 9. This phone seems to have lost a grip of basic math sums. Someone send it back to school.
Weโre getting very mixed signals from this personโs Windows set-up notification. Are they or arenโt they connected to the network? Can they or canโt they finish getting set up? So many unanswered questions.
Either this person has defied the laws of physics in their new way of holding a gun, or thereโs something not quite right with the graphics of this slightly dated computer game. Pretty unconventional, but if it works, it works.
Umโฆ weโre pretty sure the keyboard belongs at the bottom of a page. And half of it is missing. This personโs phone is quite clearly surrendering itself and insisting that they buy a new one.
If thereโs one thing we can rely on our phones for, itโs to tell the timeโฆ. Ah. Maybe not. This personโs phone seems pretty insistent that itโs nearly 20 minutes into the future. Or is that the past?
I mean, youโre either on the 7th floor or youโre on the 25th floor. This new elevator doesnโt seem to want to co-operate with the old one. It thinks that as the new kid on the block, it gets to make up a whole set of new rules.
According to this personโs phone, they have a file on there that dates way back to 1969. Considering computers only came on the market in 1977, itโs safe to say this is a definite glitch. Still, itโs probably worth checking that file out.
Technology is pretty mind-blowing for the majority of us. The way it seems to just know what to do โ you can leave it to it, and it will do exactly what you ask of it. The majority of us donโt even know how technology works; we just let it get on with whatever itโs supposed to. Which is why itโs nothing short of hilarious when technology malfunctions and produces something very unlike what you were expecting.
Weโre taking a look at some of the most laughable mistakes and malfunctions of the tech we couldnโt live without today, so sit back and prepare to have a giggle.