There are life hacks that can save you a lot of time, money, and headaches. Whether it's keeping the squirrels away from the bird feeder or hiding your spare key, human ingenuity has found plenty of clever ways how to improve our everyday routine.
However, the term "life hacks" has become an internet cash cow. And everyone from click-hungry websites to clout-craving teenagers wants a piece of it. Over time, this has given rise to plenty of absurd listicles, featuring useless nonsense disguised as smart solutions.
Making fun of these ridiculous "tricks", Twitter users have begun inventing life hacks of their own. Although you probably already know them or would never use them, the irony is what makes them great.
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The internet culture archive Know Your Meme states that the term "life hack" was coined by tech journalist Danny O'Brien on October 23rd, 2003 on his blog Oblomovka where he described his research for an upcoming talk on the subject, which took place during February 2004's Emerging Technology Conference in San Diego, California.
Interestingly, O'Brien directed people to a message board seeking suggestions about their personal shortcuts, as well as the names of people he could interview about these hacks, and one of the first people mentioned in the conversation was the late Aaron Swartz, who kept a detailed log of his online activity.
I swear you can almost smell the recirculated air and hear screaming kids
"Guys, I'm eating junk and watching rubbish! You better come out and stop me!"
In September 2004, Gawker Media registered the domain name Lifehacker.com and in 2005 the website was launched with Gina Trapani as the lead editor. The first hack that the site offered was a "word stemmer" tool that worked with the social bookmarking site Del.ici.ous to clean up similar tags and remove duplicates within a user's account.
Now, "life hack" can mean virtually everything. The term is tossed around mercilessly and as you can see from this list, this has also led to it becoming a meme. But at least it's a pretty good one!
'Now how do you think we can make a penguin the world leader in Mars?'. Me: 'It's just about finding that balance'. Everyone: 👏👏👏
Then go on holiday, forget to have someone come round to water you, and die a tragic death
Don't eat bagels! There is a hole in the middle! You're being ripped off! Where is the rest of it?
Sadly, this is almost guaranteed to put someone close to you in a bad or even homicidal mood
When I went on vacay to Seattle, I knew I was gonna be a souvenir sucker, so I packed my smaller suitcase with my stuff, put it inside my larger one, and voila! Room for all the shopping my heart desired.
This is sound advice until you realize that you prefer it to a real girl's hand
"Breadsticks? When I was a kid we had to steal bread from ducks!"
kids are smart. you know how I know? I don't know any kids with a full time job and kids
Just go without sleep. I've been living on 2 hours sleep for the past 25 years and I look like a panda.
I wish I could but my depression always has a different idea for unproductive days
I couldn't do that to my computer this year though (algebra made my have daily meltdowns)
no, the real lifehack are audiobooks, expand your consciousness while doing house chores
There is no better cure for buyer's regret than eating lukewarm spaghetti straight out of the purse
I have supportive friends and I am grateful, but they are goofballs. Every one of my friends (including me) is a dork and a goofball and I love that!
So much better than the "actual" life hacks that are either so obvious it hurts, or don't work. At least these technically all work, and made me smile
So much better than the "actual" life hacks that are either so obvious it hurts, or don't work. At least these technically all work, and made me smile
