THE BREAKING POINT - I think I found it...

For the past couple months I have felt incredibly annoyed and unmotivated in general. I also realized I was being short with coworkers. I even snapped at my son for no legitimate reason. None of this is my normal character. I am typically a chipper, energetic person who loves to laugh, but this has not been the case this year. I couldn’t pinpoint any reason for any of this. After two months of feeling this way, I decided to mention it to one of the few people I trust. I discovered I was not alone in my feelings or behavior. Now the question was, why is this happening?

This morning I opened Substack and saw a post by

Petra Liverani

. It really hit home, so much so that I took a photo:

Wow. I can relate to every single one of the things on that list. I deal with them on a daily basis now and they are driving me crazy too, but until I saw that post I didn’t realize how many annoyances there were. I then began thinking through what has changed in life - what is different today when compared to five years ago or ten years ago? It seemed like the perfect opportunity to add to the list and vent frustrations. Feel free to join in…

In no specific order:

I’m sick of my vehicle trying to interact with me. When I start my car I am told it’s collecting data. If I want to access the my radio I am forced to click Accept. Alternatively I can wait and the message will eventually go away then I can access the my radio. When I reverse my car it tells me to check my surroundings. When I park it tells me to check my back seats for passengers before exiting. My last vehicle reminded me daily to obey traffic laws.

Does anyone else drive a truck or a large SUV? Why do we no longer fit in the parking spots close to the building but fit in the spots in the back of the parking lot? Since when did parking spots become different sizes?

I’m annoyed with these OTP codes for everything. Want to pay a bill? Wait for a code to come to your cell phone and confirm your identity - a code which won’t come and you have to wait five minutes to request a new one. I JUST NEED TO PAY MY ELECTRIC BILL, FFS.

And what the heck is up with the CAPTCHAs? Surely there is a better way to fight bots than this confusing sh*t.

I had to watch an ad to check the weather yesterday. Not kidding, wish I was.

Do I even need a mailbox anymore? It is filled with credit card preapprovals and envelopes from companies that know I don’t want to open their mail so they have to pretend to be important communication on behalf of my car warranty or bank to try to trick me into looking at their advertisement. If you have to dupe me into looking at your ad, I will never purchase your product. And let’s not forget the biannual political junk mail by the armload. If someone is worried about damage to the earth they should look at the full color, glossy coated cardstock, 14” double-sided print, political ads that everyone walks from their mailbox directly to their trash can.

Since we are on the topic of political junk, WTF is up with these political text messages? Why is there no way to get off these lists? No matter how many you block, unsubscribe to, or report as spam, they just text you from a new phone number. How did you people even get my number to begin with? If I was to text my ex this much there would be a restraining order against me.

We needed to purchase a new meat smoker last summer. We went to Home Depot and Lowes. All of the new smokers are connected to cell phone apps. I don’t need an app to tell me when my meat is done and I don’t need to see a graph of my carbon usage, all I want to do is make some pulled pork for my family.

Since we are talking about cooking, why do internet recipes now contain a life’s story before you can get to the recipe? Seriously who cares if the recipe author discovered the fondue when she was on vacation in France in 1992 for her honeymoon of her second marriage which, like the first marriage, ended in divorce but at least she got the fondue recipe out of it? And why are recipe pages now so cluttered with ads and videos that you can’t get to the recipe? And no, I don’t want to watch a 7-minute video to see how you made the roast beef sandwich and I don’t need you to set it to auto-play.

At the grocery store, we are now expected to use the U-Scan self checkout. When items don’t ring up, there is no employee to be found. To make the issue worse, there is always that one person, you know the one person, the lady with the cart overflowing with crap who will have not the slightest clue how to use the U-Scan and since the rest of the U-Scans are out of service or taken up by people waiting for the employee that is nowhere to be found, you’re stuck in line, holding your bunch of bananas and wondering if you should just put them back and leave empty-handed - By the way, last year my U-Scan malfunctioned. I hunted down the employee and watched her open the machine and saw that not only was it video recording our faces, but it was running identity verification on us. The screen on the inside of the machine looked like something you would see on a FBI drama tv show.

Speaking of surveillance, Michigan is installing cameras everywhere and nobody seems to notice because few people look up. The cameras have become inescapable. It seems every electronic we buy has a camera. I don’t need a camera on my computer and if I wanted one I would purchase one. I don’t need a camera on my television or in my refrigerator. I don’t need my appliances to have microphones either.

Back to the topic of grocery stores - Believe it or not, I used to love grocery shopping but I now despise it. I spend literal hours reading labels and end up with two little bags of stuff that cost $140 and isn’t even enough to make anything. Now that the “healthy food” is mixed in with the “bad food”, finding what I need is like Where’s Waldo. The entire experience is now so miserable that I’d rather order it online and have it delivered so I can relax at home while comparing hundreds of labels which I’m pretty damn sure was the intention all along.

And what’s up with brands I used to rely on now quietly adding chemicals to products that weren’t in there before? Why is there Polysorbate 80 now in my whole cream?

It’s not just chemicals, it’s all kinds of garbage being dumped in food. It seems everything now contains “bioengineered” ingredients. I bought dried cranberries - the same exact cranberries I have been buying for decade - now they have added sugar. I don’t need sugar on my berries! Why does it cost more to have chemicals not added to food? Wouldn’t the manufacturer save money by not putting dye in my grain-free crackers?

Regardless of what chemicals they add or don’t add, food now expires in a day or never expires. There is no normal expiration of anything anymore. Scavenger animals won’t even eat our food!

I’m sick of getting emails from companies. Apparently if you buy anything on the internet that company now gets to spam you around the clock. Order your sister-in-law the bottle of lotion she wanted from Bath and Body Works and you will have an inbox full of coupons, “tell us how we did” surveys, and other assorted harassment, all because you spent $10 on a toxic item called something that sounds delightful like Beachside Breeze or Juicy Orange.

And why do I need to make an account to order something? I don’t plan to be a repeat buyer, I just need this one thing, one time, I promise I will never be back.

Why are there Sponsored Ads in my email? They’re already reading all of our communications and now we have ads too?

Anything that allows strangers to add you to a list and start sending you messages. If I wanted to be in a Bitcoin Telegram group I would join it. Why do I have to adjust my apps settings to prevent such?

Why is there a popup ad asking if we want to join the mailing list the second we land on a website? Shouldn’t we see the website and decide we like it first?

F*cking “updates”. I am going to lose my mind with these “updates”. Microsoft constantly needs to update and will now cut off my access to the internet until I update. Then, when the update is finally complete, my computer doesn’t function properly. Have a Samsung Android? When it “updates” it will install no less than three cell phone games that you don’t want and now have to delete. Have a Google phone? It doesn’t install bloatware when it updates because it is busy scraping every last piece of your identity and actions. Even the tv now updates if a device is connected to it and you have 50 seconds to decline the update - think fast because it is about to auto start...

Websites and apps, for whatever reason, feel the need to frequently revamp their platforms, moving the buttons you need to new locations, but none of these changes improve the site, they’re strictly cosmetic and they make what was an easy task now a learning experience every six months. And many times the revamp adds steps to essential processes. Now, instead of clicking the button you need, you must click an icon to access a drop-down menu then select the button from it.

I am tired of being asked to donate to some assorted cause. Do I want to round up my change to help kids fight cancer? Do I want to give Ukraine $5? How about a monthly subscription to the ASPCA so starving dogs can be fed? If I wanted to donate to a charity I sure wouldn’t go about it by handing my money to a third party which is completely unrelated to the cause.

Important calls from unknown numbers. It’s 2025, surely that company knows nobody wants to answer a call from a number they don’t recognize, yet they don’t spend 40 seconds programming their number to appear on caller ID as their company name.

Trying to make a phone call on your iPhone? You are now prompted to choose if you want to make it through your traditional phone, WhatsApp, Signal or other apps. Just let me make the call from my regular phone and if I want to switch it to WhatsApp or an alternative calling option, I will. Stop adding more clicks to every process!

Why is everything now an app? Book an Air B&B to get away with your spouse for the weekend? Download the app to check in. Going to the casino for a night? Download the app to unlock your hotel room door. Want to make an Etsy purchase? Download our app! Some sites won’t even work on mobile unless you download the stupid app.

Speaking of apps, why are there apps on my phone I can’t delete? If I don’t want to do business with a company, I shouldn’t have to carry them around with me.

As a researcher, internet content which should be public info is now paywalled or password protected. Why do I need to submit an application showing my affiliations with the medical-science industry or prove I am a student at a university to be approved for an account to view source documents showing how the rabies virus was first isolated?! Or pay $24 a month to view one paper?

Why does damn near everything now automatically log us off? If you and your son are watching a movie on Netflix and he gets up to use the restroom, before he is back you are booted off the platform. The same is true with most of the websites I have to use for my real job. If you don’t fill out a form fast enough or keep moving the cursor, it kicks you off, locks you out, and you have to start over… which usually requires the OTP process or a CAPTCHA.

And why do we care so much about OTPs and CAPTACHAs when every week we find out there was a “data breach” which exposed our identities? And what justice do we get for these data breaches? Not a damn thing. Sometimes I wonder if they intentionally “leak” the data because it is so valuable that even if they were sued, the amount they made off the data is worth more than the cost of the lawsuit settlement.

We can’t go to a doctor or a dentist without them trying to X-Ray us and push services on us. The same is true when taking your animal to the vet. I don’t want your vaccines, I don’t need bloodwork to see if I have AIDS or a so-called vitamin deficiency, and I don’t need the doctor to write me a script for anything. Just get this splinter out of my foot, bill my insurance which I pay grotesque amounts for, charge me a copay on top of it, and let me go home.

Have a problem and need to call customer service? It’s almost all outsourced now. Lengthy hold times with horrendous music followed by the phone being answered by a person you cannot understand. You can never speak to the same person twice and as you are funneled through the web of customer service employees, you have to keep reexplaining your issue. Nothing is ever resolved without further actions being required - wait for a letter in the email, visit this website and submit a ticket, we’ll have someone call you back next week…

Ever have to deal with a missing package shipped through USPS, our government carrier? Go online and fill out this ridiculous form and they will update you sometime within three months, maybe. In the meantime, oh well. It doesn’t matter that you paid them to provide a service not rendered. Even if you did insure the package, now you get to jump through hoops to try to collect on your loss.

Speaking of insurance, are companies like SquareTrade not hugely annoying? It’s so easy to pay for the policy and so time consuming to use it.

If you so much as look at a company on the internet they want to schedule a zoom conference, phone call, or come out for a meeting. Why can’t you just give me a generalization of how much your chimney cleaning service is? Is it $500 or $5,000? I know you can’t give me an exact quote, but give me something that doesn’t require an hour of my time on Tuesday so I can decide if I want to move forward.

Having to pay to not get a product is a huge annoyance. No, I don’t want your Smart Meter. I didn’t have one before and I survived just fine, but now it’ll cost me $30 a month to not have one? Imagine if the grocery store charged more because you don’t want a can of beans today. Then they charged you again tomorrow and every day after.

Opt-out programs in general - if I wanted it I would have signed up for it. How about offering an Opt-in program instead? Answer: because you know nobody wants it.

Why does a company call me then ask me to confirm my identity? They should be confirming theirs so I know who I am speaking to. You called me and I don’t even know why you’re calling because I didn’t ask for anything.

Companies that just throw your purchase in a cardboard box, no padding, and expect it not to arrive shattered into a million pieces. Then when it arrives shattered you get to invest your time in the customer service loop.

Constantly being asked to Accept Cookies. Dude, I just want to see how much your hedge clippers are, that’s it, just show me your price and if it’s good I’ll accept your cookies and buy it.

No matter what you search for, a company bought ads with that keyword and that company is usually Walmart. “1968 Ford Mustang replacement gas cap”, oh look, the internet search says Walmart.com has it! [15 minutes later] Nope, they actually don’t…

The volume on commercials is out of control. I remember they used to be louder than the actual show but they are insane now. Nobody should have an eardrum blown out from a QuickBooks commercial. You now have to hold your tv remote while watching a show so you can continually adjust the volume.

Why does everything now require a different cord to use it? Why do the cables no longer come with it? Why is it so damn difficult to figure out which cord you need? Why is the cable $40 unless you buy the China knockoff which might start a fire in your bedroom? Why does it seem like everything we buy now requires another thing to be purchased to use it? I recently bought a really nice, professional camera and was forced to spend hundreds on additional things. Buy a new pc and it won’t have the basic programs you need to perform tasks, then you can pay for Microsoft office and get a limited number of downloads and constant advertisements to sell you their other products you don’t need. They have no problem giving us apps we don’t want on our phones, why can’t we get some apps we need on our computers? If we buy something, everything we need for it to function (and be charged by plugging it into the wall) should come in the box.

There now seems to be a kiosk for everything. How about I just tell you what I want and you punch it into the computer instead of me having to learn a machine?

Interactive advertisements. I already don’t want to watch your ad, now you want me to interact with it? I don’t care which Progressive Insurance ad you show me, just get it over with.

Want to fly somewhere to go on vacation? The airport is now ridiculous. Recently, coming back from Texas I had to deal with everything from walking through a line of drug sniffing dogs to X-ray scans to my luggage being searched. Even our shoes must go through screening as we scurry around wearing only our socks. The airlines now recommend arriving hours ahead of schedule to ensure we make it through their security in time. Refuse the X-Ray and they intentionally make you wait no less than 15 extra minutes, often 45 minutes or more, as they claim no employee is available right now to pat you down and stick their finger up your a*s to make sure men aren’t smuggling bazookas and women don’t have nail files.

Airlines and sites like Wayfair increase the price of items you have looked at if they think you are going to purchase it. In other instances, airline tickets are priced higher based on your GPS location.

The top bar of my internet browser at work won’t stop telling me how much money I have saved, providing coupons that do not work, and directing me to other websites to allegedly purchase the item for less (shipping rates are not factored in so the item ultimately costs more). I never asked for this “service” and no matter how many times I turn it off, it turns back on every “update”.

NO, I DON’T WANT WINDOWS 11! I didn’t even want Windows 10! Stop trying to trick me into downloading it. Stop installing sh*t on my computer. I don’t need your weather app or news feed. I don’t need your pop-up messages in the lower right either. Just leave me alone and let me type.

When I run an internet search for restaurants, oil change places, retail stores, whatever, what I am shown and recommended are those who spend money on advertising. I am not shown the mom-and-pop shops.

If you are wondering why it now takes you 30+ minutes to drive the same trip that previously took 20, one reason is because cities have increased the duration of red lights and decreased green lights and I am far from the only person to notice this. I first wrote about this in 2023. Now it is 2025 and I have timed my local traffic lights. We are now averaging 45 seconds on red and as little as 4 seconds on green. By the time distracted morons realize the light is green and press the gas peddle, it is red again.

My area of the city also put up these new, tall pylon things running along the center of the road, dividing traffic going east from the traffic headed west. These pylons make it so you can only turn around where the city says you can because there is no way to cross over the pylons. If you are stuck by a train that doesn’t move (which has become an annoyance of its own) you are unable to U-turn. You are now stuck waiting however long it takes for the train to clear because there is no way out.

Batteries now die in a fraction of the time they used to. Your cell phone will say 15% battery life then die quicker than a green light.

Is it just me or does everything break quickly now? The first computer I bought as an adult - I don’t remember the make or model but it was back when internet came on a CD - that pc lasted forever. It lasted so long that I only bought a new one to have better graphic capabilities, other than that, the thing was great. Fast forward to modern times: I spent over $2,000 on a computer in 2015. With each “update” little things stopped functioning properly. By 2020 it needed to be replaced. I postponed the purchase until it was unbearable in 2022. This time around I invested in a $3,000 computer, thinking I would have it for at least a decade. It is now 2025, only three years later, and thanks to updates, it is already becoming corrupted.

Excessive amounts of options for everything. Do you want it shipped or do you want to pickup? If you want to pickup, do you want to come inside? What about curbside pickup? Do you want to pickup at our main location or would you like to pickup from one of our remote locations? If you want it shipped, do you want normal shipping? Express shipping? Want to pay a premium for overnight shipping? We can even ship it to a store close to you and you can pickup from there. If you want to pickup from there, do you want to come inside?…

And no, I don’t want to login with Facebook.

If you live in the US, the pharmaceutical commercials and ads are enough to drive you mad. An observant person can’t look anywhere without seeing one.

Everything is made from plastic and wrapped in plastic then we are scolded for plastic waste and told to invest our time into plastic recycling which is a literal scam.

Companies that artificially inflate the price of something just to make you believe you are getting a discount. Then, after buying it, you discover it’s the same price or cheaper anywhere else.

And if you want to get the sale price on something you are expected to sign up for a loyalty program. Walgreens, all I need is a box of Band-Aids. I do not need to be a rewards member.

Taxes fund the utility companies yet the rates increase frequently and the service isn’t better nor greater. How is my bill now double what it was five years ago when I have used no additional product?

The excessive pushing of AI everywhere. Where’s the Opt-out program for that?

Unsubscribing from an email list because it has spammed you so much that you reached your breaking point, then when you unsubscribe, it sends you another email to tell you you are unsubscribed - it’s like it just wanted to get the last word in.

My friend

Medicine Girl

and I were just discussing how there are way too many methods of communication and it leads to burnout. For example, just on Substack, people can leave comments asking questions, send direct messages, and reply to posts via email. That’s just one site. I currently have over 1,000 direct messages, it would take me a week of doing no research or writing whatsoever to respond to them all. Then, when people make a donation, you want to thank them - that’s two different sites, BuyMeACoffee.com and Ko-Fi.com. That alone is three sites with five different actions that need to be taken. Combine that with all the other sites each requiring actions, then combine that with a day job and a family - it’s quite overwhelming, you spin in circles trying to keep up, even if you’re not an author. It’s like our collective time and energy is being drained, drop by drop. And how many communications are bots that are designed to do exactly that?

And since we are discussing Substack - when someone sends you a direct message on Substack, you get an email notifying you a message was sent, but it won’t show you the damn message. You must then login to Substack and open the message area to see it - more and more steps. (If you need to contact me, email me. Responding directly to your email requires the least steps on my end.)

So that is my list, off the top of my head. I put some thought into why this is happening to us and realized almost all of these things - these annoyances which make us feel overwhelmed, anxious, depressed, and frustrated - almost all of these are the beginning stages of connecting us to The Internet of Things; a system in which everything is completely monitored and controlled by AI and robots. It’s a place where we don’t get a say in what we get because we will own nothing and be happy. It’s a system in which all of our time is tied up in meaningless tasks and our precious days tick by with us accomplishing little as we wait in lines, wait on hold, wait for the OTP, wait for the letter in the mail, wait for the update to complete, wait for security to declare we are allowed to go through, and wait for the next 4-second green light. It’s a system where every few months we invest our time in trying to figure out where the icon was moved to and relearn how to use the platforms we need to accomplish daily tasks, all just to have them relocated again shortly thereafter. It’s a system where everything frequently changes and it becomes increasingly difficult to do trivial things, like make a phone call - a phone call which is then monitored (for our safety, of course). It’s a system in which we are overloaded with choices which make us believe we have control but in the big scheme of life it doesn’t matter if we pickup from the curb or inside the building, if our groceries are in paper or plastic, or if our receipt is printed or emailed.

The reason we find it so aggravating is because almost all of us lived pre-internet, pre-home computer, and pre-cell phone. We have lived through none of this technology, then some of this technology, now we are living through the bombardment of this technology, whereas this is just normal life to a young person who is growing up in this atmosphere; an atmosphere where your time and energy are drained and you slowly become unmotivated. Anyway, I thought it would feel good to vent. If you want to add annoyances to the list feel free in the comments section and we can all b*tch together.

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