It's a little bit bearable having to deal with pet peeves offline but dealing with online pet peeves can be a very annoying ordeal. Many of the digital pet peeves are things that I do not pay so much heed to or if I come across them, I have a way of permanently avoiding them, even if it includes deleting an app from my phone or something in that line. However, there are a few pet peeves that still attempt to tamper with my mental health.
The very first digital pet peeve on my list would be poorly designed user interfaces. This is closely accompanied by poorly designed user interfaces that have a truckload of intrusive ads and pop-ups. They annoy the crap out of me. Imaging having to spend double or even triple the amount of time one would have spent accomplishing a task just because of a poorly designed interface? This act can be very mentally draining and is a total digital pet peeve for me.
The narrative may be a bit different when this user interface is still in the experimental stage and the developers are actively trying to make changes and developments for a better user experience. However, I've encountered user interfaces that were outrightly crappy and the annoying part is that such user interfaces are always packed with millions of ads and pop-ups. A user who may have chosen to ignore the bad user interface would certainly not ignore the incessant pop-ups.
I recently watched a friend download a movie from a website and before he could even search for the title of the movie he wanted to download, a flock of ads covered his screen and the friend being an expert in ads evasion, swiped, returned and repeated for about four times. My question was “you have to encounter four full-fledged ads before reaching your actual destination? What about those who would give up after the second ad?” What about me?
I truly admire people who have the patience to deal with so many ads and pop-ups. I’m quite the patient individual but I would rather exercise my patience somewhere else that isn't threatening my sanity. This is why I totally reduce my contact with unimpressive front ends and with ads. I simply search for an alternative and in the world we live in today, best believe there is always an alternative somewhere. Some alternatives may come at a price. In such instances, it's best to weigh how important the activity I want to carry out is. Does it warrant me paying the price? If it does, then I would proceed and if it doesn't, auf wiedersehen.
Another digital pet peeve I usually have little to no control over is being added to a digital group or community without prior heads-up. Even though I may not particularly share the same interests with the rest of the group members, I wouldn't pass on an opportunity to learn how a certain group of people think and interact; but inform me first! A little message like “Hello, I want to add you to a forex trading group and I'm here to get you consent” is better than waking up one day, adding everyone on your contact list to a group chat and after tons of people have asked why they were added to the group without their consent, you follow with a half wit “I'm sorry for adding you to the group. You can leave if you want to” apology.
I cannot count the number of times this has happened and in succession, a bunch of random people begin to message, claiming they got the contact from a group we are both members of. The audacity. This very act would always be marked as a peril by me and the best way to respond to digital threats is by blocking. On the other hand, I like it when people seemingly try to lead a group of people or move their business endeavours in one way or another and if they need a group of people to do this, brilliant. The best thing I can do for such people is show my support if the business idea is an ethical one and in line with my values, if not, I respectfully exit the group and avoid putting my mental health at jeopardy.
One person’s digital pet peeves may be entirely different from another person’s , be that as it may, we all have the little digital deeds that annoy us. By recognising these digital pet peeves, we can take active steps to minimize or totally eradicate their impacts and by so doing, improve our online experiences.
Image are personal screenshots.