50 Mildly Infuriating Situations That Are Oh-So Relatable (New Pics)

Most people would likely agree that the feeling of great annoyance—often over relativelyminor things—is quite universal; people don’t need to speak the same language or be from the same area to know just how aggravating a sock sliding halfway off in a shoe can be.

Below you will also findBored Panda’sinterviews with Emeritus Professor of Psychology Joseph Hellige and Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at The University of Delaware, Philip Gable, who were kind enough to answer a few of our questions about why we find certain things mildly infuriating.

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That’s Probably The Most Infuriating Thing About The Tape

The Aluminum Foil Is Stuck Like This

When You Tear Exactly Where It Says To, But The Bag Remains Sealed

Sometimes it doesn’t take much for us to become annoyed, or say, mildly infuriated; something as simple as uneven or unmatching items or gaps in places they shouldn’t be can make us noticeably irritated. The answer to why that happens seemingly lies in the way our brain is wired.“In said examples, networks in the anterior cingulate cortex and connected regions activate when our expectations are violated, when we see or experience something different from what we expect,” Emeritus Professor of Psychology Joseph Hellige explained. “As simple as a gap when we didn’t expect one and as complicated as an insult when we expected praise. Registering a deviation from expectation is largely automatic.”

“In said examples, networks in the anterior cingulate cortex and connected regions activate when our expectations are violated, when we see or experience something different from what we expect,” Emeritus Professor of Psychology Joseph Hellige explained. “As simple as a gap when we didn’t expect one and as complicated as an insult when we expected praise. Registering a deviation from expectation is largely automatic.”

The Pocket Size In Female vs. Male Levi’s Jeans. I‘Ve Just Bought The “Male” Model Which Fits Me Perfectly. Why Do Jeans Manufacturers Think That Women Don’t Deserve Large Pockets?

This Makes Me Unreasonably Mad Every Time I Walk By

Dr. Philip Gable seconded the idea that said mildly infuriating things get on our nerves because we detect that something is not right or not what we expected. “It’s like when you make an error, but instead of you making the mistake, you detect the mistake in the world around you,” he explained.“Potentially, the person could perceive that there is a disconnect between what we think is involved, and how we expect things to be. The anterior cingulate cortex is involved in error detection and could be sending the ‘something is wrong’ signal. After that, it is likely how we think about the situation that causes us to hold on to it as negative or bad.”

“Potentially, the person could perceive that there is a disconnect between what we think is involved, and how we expect things to be. The anterior cingulate cortex is involved in error detection and could be sending the ‘something is wrong’ signal. After that, it is likely how we think about the situation that causes us to hold on to it as negative or bad.”

New Sports Bra Comes With Over 20 Tags Sewn In. It Takes Surgical Precision To Remove Them Without Damaging The Bra

Oh, Come On. Mildly Infuriating Indeed

Nothing Worse Than Rock-Hard Butter, Thin White Bread, And A Whole Lot Of Hunger

Prof. Hellige continued to explain that whether we find certain things or occurrences annoying or pleasurable depends on numerous different brain networks. “For example, the insular cortex is activated when we experience something physically unpleasant, like biting into rancid meat, or psychologically unpleasant, like overhearing someone criticize us.”According to the expert, the seemingly minorannoyancesvary from person to person based on context and life experience. “One person’s annoyance can even be another’s pleasure. The dissonance in Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring might grate on my nerves but be beautiful to a more trained mind.”

According to the expert, the seemingly minorannoyancesvary from person to person based on context and life experience. “One person’s annoyance can even be another’s pleasure. The dissonance in Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring might grate on my nerves but be beautiful to a more trained mind.”

This Happens To Me Every Time

For The 1000th Time, I Made The Mistake Of Touching My Ice Cream Sandwich

Wore These “Waterproof” Hiking Boots For 30 Minutes In The Rain. Now I Have To Walk Home

Dr. Hellige explained that the level of how strongly a person feels about certain annoyances relates to relative levels of activation among brain areas, including those in the limbic system and prefrontal cortex.“The level of irritation also tends to increase when a person already feels stressed or is overly tired. Parents know this well; the never-ending questions from our three-year-old are a pleasure when we’re well-rested and unhurried, but after two nights of little sleep with a work project overdue, the same behavior becomes irritating.”

“The level of irritation also tends to increase when a person already feels stressed or is overly tired. Parents know this well; the never-ending questions from our three-year-old are a pleasure when we’re well-rested and unhurried, but after two nights of little sleep with a work project overdue, the same behavior becomes irritating.”

All Of My Bananas Unpeeled Themselves As I Slept Last Night. I’ve Never Seen This Happen Before

It Finally Happened. I Was Prompted To Tip At The Airport Self-Checkout Station

My Wife Is Grocery Shopping For Thanksgiving, And There’s Only One Cashier Open

According to Dr. Gable, another factor that is likely to influence the extent to which a person finds something to be (mildly) infuriating is how much a certain situation violates their expectation that something is wrong. “It could be how significant the person sees the problem that enhances the irritation; oftentimes, not having control over the situation can cause it to be more irritating,” he pointed out.

My Alarm Clock Likes To Randomly Change Its Brightness To Match The Surface Of The Sun. This Thing Is Unreasonably Bright (Not Edited, This Thing Lights Up The Entire Room)

It’s Getting Out Of Hand. Asked To Tip For An Online Purchase, When I Put $0, It Redirected Me To This

This Typo Caused Me To Fail The Entire Assignment

Since no one is immune to annoyances and infuriating things, arguably the only thing we can do is try to manage our emotions. “Perspective talking about the situation would help; for example, ‘it’s not that big of a deal’, or ‘it’s really not something I should worry about’,” Dr. Gable suggested.“Try to look at it more objectively: ‘in the long run, correcting that problem wouldn’t really matter and might make things worse’. The annoyance may come from the person making a subjective judgment - if they can reduce their judgements, it will likely affect them less.”

“Try to look at it more objectively: ‘in the long run, correcting that problem wouldn’t really matter and might make things worse’. The annoyance may come from the person making a subjective judgment - if they can reduce their judgements, it will likely affect them less.”

ATM At Grand Central Ate My Debit Card

Printer Pulled This Nonsense Right Before Alerting Me It Was Low On Ink

There’s No Way Anyone Believes This Is An Efficient Way To Display Drinks. Had To Open 5 Doors Until I Found What I Wanted

Dr. Hellige added that first and foremost, it’s important to try and be well-rested and maintain low levels of stress. “Easy to say, hard to do,” he admitted.“Try to keep things in perspective,” the professor of psychology continued. “Very few things are actually matters of life and death, but we have inherited some brain regions that aren’t so good at telling the difference. Fortunately, other regions, like our prefrontal cortex, work to slow us down, be reflective, and moderate the effects of some of those other regions. Take a deep breath, and let your prefrontal cortex do its work.”

Dr. Hellige added that first and foremost, it’s important to try and be well-rested and maintain low levels of stress. “Easy to say, hard to do,” he admitted.

“Try to keep things in perspective,” the professor of psychology continued. “Very few things are actually matters of life and death, but we have inherited some brain regions that aren’t so good at telling the difference. Fortunately, other regions, like our prefrontal cortex, work to slow us down, be reflective, and moderate the effects of some of those other regions. Take a deep breath, and let your prefrontal cortex do its work.”

Why Does This Always Happen?

They’re The Same Number

Explaining Silent “K” To A 2-Year-Old Is Needlessly Annoying

The reason it’s important to try and manage our reaction to infuriating things—no matter how big or small—is because they often entail stress, which can accumulate and result in detrimental effects to ourwell-being.“Every day is full of small annoyances. If we can’t control our negative reactions to those small annoyances, then it will completely lower our well-being. Letting go of the things we cannot change would be helpful at maintaining one’s well-being,” Dr. Gable suggested.

“Every day is full of small annoyances. If we can’t control our negative reactions to those small annoyances, then it will completely lower our well-being. Letting go of the things we cannot change would be helpful at maintaining one’s well-being,” Dr. Gable suggested.

So Close

I’ve Been Stuck Here Waiting For The Train To Move For The Last 40 Minutes

This Is Why I Hate Paper Straws

“Beyond an optimal level of alertness, adding stress takes a toll on our judgment as well as things like blood pressure and heart health more generally,” Dr. Hellige pointed out. “There is no way to avoid all annoyances; nor would we survive long if we weren’t responsive to genuine threats. But, there are well-documented negative consequences of chronic stress. And, whether we realize it or not, constant annoyances over insignificant things add up.”Luckily, the pictures of mildly infuriating things are arguably not as stressful or annoying as having to deal with such things in real life. So if you feel like they don’t affect you or you know that you can manage your emotions, continue to our previous collections of mildly infuriating thingshereandhereand see what other things might make fellow netizens somewhat infuriated.

Luckily, the pictures of mildly infuriating things are arguably not as stressful or annoying as having to deal with such things in real life. So if you feel like they don’t affect you or you know that you can manage your emotions, continue to our previous collections of mildly infuriating thingshereandhereand see what other things might make fellow netizens somewhat infuriated.

Taste The Feeling (Frustration)