18 Times Technology Completely Backfired

Modernization brought innovation and technology to give us convenience. It has helped people throughout the years, but what happens if it backfires on us? These internet users share their experiences about their technology failures.

• After a break-in, I installed cameras in my house. One day, I got an intruder alert. Locked in my room, I called the police and checked the footage. There was nothing!
  The alert kept coming as if the intruder was moving around. Then I saw my cat casually strolling through the kitchen while the system insisted there was an intruder in the room! Almost at the same time, I heard police sirens outside.
  Summoning all the courage I had, I went downstairs and opened the door for the officers. They searched the entire house—no intruder in sight. It was just me and my cat! We all had a good laugh, and I called someone to adjust the system so it would understand that a pet was, in fact, allowed to roam around the house.
• My grandparents (and my cousin and her boyfriend, who are like 23) kept trying to figure out what was wrong with the computer, it wouldn’t print. I walked out 10 minutes later, and they still couldn’t figure it out. Walk over to the printer, a clear message is displayed: OUT OF PAPER. I was so disappointed in society. © Unknown author / Reddit
• One time when I was younger, we had a bad handheld electronic Battleship game that my siblings and I constantly fought over. All the bickering started to get ridiculous, so I dipped the thing in water. The game actually worked for a couple of days after, and any time my brother would play it he’d comment on how realistic it was, with direct hits actually making water come out of the seams of the case. © MoreSteakLessFanta / Reddit

• Trying to uninstall an internet security program about 10 years ago. Went about it a very wrong way and deleted a bunch of registry keys. It then turned into a giant virus and locked me out of my computer. Out of frustration, I finally just formatted it. © Gnork / Reddit
• Dad bought a CD, and put it in his truck, won’t play. Puts it in his car, won’t play, mom’s car, won’t play. Drives to the store and chews out the customer service rep for bad products. CSR informs Dad that he purchased a concert DVD, not a CD. © MMK386 / Reddit
• The day I bought my iPod Touch, I immediately set a passcode on it. Then, I immediately forgot the passcode. It took me two hours to figure out how to reset it. © annielovesbacon / Reddit
• This involves both my grandparents and parents’ failing. Basically, my grandparents had bought a new digital alarm clock. When they came over one time, they mentioned that no matter what they did, the time on it wouldn’t change. My dad offered to come around and have a look at it and was just as stumped as they were. Nothing they did would change it, so in the end, I decided I’d take a look.
  It turns out that there was a sticker on it the whole time. You know, like the ones they put on it in the shop to show you what it looks like when it’s turned on? It wasn’t even pulling off some kind of optical illusion; it was clear as day that it was on there. I love my family, but I’ve never facepalmed so hard in my entire life. © OpenSecret / Reddit

• When I got my first smartphone, I got it out of the package and charged it. Then I played with the new phone for a minute, synced my Gmail contacts (all my numbers), and put it back in my pocket. It pocket-dialed to the last person on earth I’d want to call — an old friend who I had cut ties with 5 years prior and whose number I had never had the heart to delete. © MirrorLake / Reddit
• So this happened when I was a young kid. The first computer I got, I ended up breaking it in 30 minutes. So it was a second-hand computer that I got from my cousin. I got it home, set it up, and it worked perfectly. I spent an hour playing Minesweeper, and then I got called for dinner, so I turned it off.
  When I came back, I tried to turn it on, and it just wouldn’t turn on. After multiple attempts and rechecking each wire multiple times, I was getting desperate. At the back was this kind of red switch, which you needed like a knife or something to get it to switch. So I switched that. Tried the power, and nothing happened again.
  So I rang up the cousins again asking if they had this problem, and they told me, “Oh yeah, we forgot to mention the power button is dodgy you have to press and kind of wiggle it to turn it on.” It was because it was a spring-loaded button that had suffered some wear. So I tried that, and the computer jumps on for a second, and all you hear is a loud bang and white light comes from the fan outlet, and then smoke starts to steam out of the fan outlet.
  So, remember the red button I switched. Well, I found out it was the button to switch the voltage level or something. WOOPS. So I ended up breaking my computer in the first 30 minutes, so that is why I don’t refer to it as the first computer. © Unknown author / Reddit

• My Beetle randomly opens the sunroof, either when I’m in the car driving or while I’m sleeping at night. Also, the blinker switch continues clicking at random when the blinkers are not on. The first time this happened it completely freaked me out, I thought I had a ghost car. © Albino_Peep / Reddit
• Not really a technology fail, I guess, but my dad used to get super mad whenever we watched something in a widescreen format. This was before we had an HD television, so it was just with movies and stuff. He always said he’s missing stuff and should be able to see more, and he preferred to watch stretched-out movies. © xcurtmightyx / Reddit
• Several years ago, I was visiting my folks at their home. Mom had rented the film Memento, which, if you’ll recall, does not tell a standard narrative in the usual chronological order. It’s mostly told in reverse, with some jumping around in time back and forth. Anyway, I sit and watch the first few minutes with her, then go off and do something else (I’ve seen it a couple of times already).
  I come back about 2 hours later, and notice that she’s still watching it. And it doesn’t seem to be near over, from what I can remember. She expresses confusion at the film, saying “It’s jumping around so much.” I agree it does that, but assure her that it will make sense in the end.
  After watching for a few minutes, I realize that the DVD has been skipping back to an earlier scene. She’s actually watched the same 25 minutes 4 or 5 times by now. In any other movie, she would have realized something was wrong and asked for help with the DVD player, but because Memento was already jumping back and forth in time, she didn’t catch it. I sometimes wonder how long she would have watched it had I not come back downstairs. © Trapick / Reddit

• My family was using Google Maps on our road trip to an unfamiliar place. We had to rely on it, but it kept on directing us to longer routes because there was ’heavy traffic’ on the usual routes. When we went back home, my Dad said that he’d ignore its suggestion because he remembers the road now.
  When the map suggested turning left, he turned right, and we ended up in a long route going back home. It was a dark road with few vehicles, I was creeped out, but Mom said that Dad was unlucky for choosing to defy our guide in that turn, lol. We got back home safely, but it was late in the evening already.
• So my friend just found a phone. While trying to figure out who it belonged to, the phone locked and began screaming very loudly. He threw it in a lake. © donutsnbacon / Reddit
• My phone started playing the Count of Monte Cristo on audiobook when any notification happened, vibration, ringing, you name it. Really awkward in classes. Didn’t stop for months. © RyoxSinfar / Reddit

• A friend of mine got a shiny new BMW with all sorts of bells and whistles. One silent night, he looked out his window to see a beautiful sight. A fresh dump of snow had blanketed the entire neighborhood. A scene is yet unmarred by a single footprint or tire mark.
  He quizzically furrowed his brow wondering how his windows were so clean until he realized that his car decided to boot up, get a breath of fresh air, and roll all of the windows down. He had a fun time scooping about 3″ of snow out of his car. © RebelWithoutAClue / Reddit
• When I was young, I always saw this camera-like thing on the wall at someone’s house. Every time I walk by that house, I’ll make faces in front of it. One time, I was picking my nose in front of it when an old guy approached me, saying that picking my nose might be too much to see on his monitor.
  I was bright red, then ran as fast as I could. It turns out that was a CCTV camera, and the guy probably saw me make those faces. I had no idea, my kid self thought it was a design that looked like one. Ever since that day, I never walked or passed on that house.
• A close family friend (and our neighbor) was at the airport (a one-hour drive from where we live). His alarm battery in the remote died, so he had to unlock his car with the key, setting the alarm off. He could not turn it off. The result was him taking a one-hour-long drive home with the car alarm running, and cars pulling off the road thinking he was an emergency vehicle. © Unknown author / Reddit

There can be unexpected backfires and errors with our technology, just like what these people have experienced, but we cannot deny that it makes our lives easier. Check this article to find out some next-level technology that people have experienced firsthand.