Let’s be real: It can be hard to stay focused on one thing at a time. We live in a world that’s filled with countless distractions, from a constant barrage of advertisements to our ever-updating social media feeds.
In fact, we walk around all the time with little attention-grabbing machines right in our pockets. Our smartphones connect us to the entire world with just the tap of a button. So it’s easy not to pay attention to what’s going on around us.
But, more often than not, paying attention can have some really important benefits.
According to Psychology Today, “What we pay attention to is literally what we will build in our brain tissue. Our neurons wire in response to what we focus upon.”
Basically, you can change how your brain functions by paying closer attention.
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Of course, if you don’t pay attention, that might have the opposite effect.
More often than not, people just aren’t aware of their surroundings — or really thinking things through. As a result, not only do they miss out on building up brain tissue, but they also usually regret the outcomes of their situations.
Here are photos of people who weren’t paying enough attention and had to deal with some pretty big consequences.
1. Profane Wrapping Paper
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It works if you’re looking for a raunchier holiday.
A lot of people buy pretty cheap wrapping paper for their gifts. It makes sense since the paper is just going to end up getting torn off and thrown in the trash anyway.
Sometimes that paper is cheaper for a reason…
…especially when it’s covered in some festive curse words.
2. Not-So-Private Bathroom
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Privacy isn’t for everyone, apparently.
Usually going to the bathroom means you’ll have a little alone time. But one bathroom designer apparently thought people might want to make eye contact in the mirror while they do their business.
They either love sharing even private moments with other people or they just weren’t paying attention.
Either way, it’s definitely weird.
3. Three Donuts In A Water Cup
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It is an efficient way to eat and drink at the same time.
Taking food orders can be hard since customers have all kinds of strange preferences and specifications. Maybe some people like dipping their donuts in water, so this could be a perfectly normal order for some people.
Of course, you’d have to really love soggy donuts for this order to make sense.
4. Baby Door
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You pretty much always have to pay attention to babies.
It’s no secret that parenting is hard and requires a whole lot of attention. Most parents do the best they can, but the truth is they can’t keep their eyes on their kid 24/7.
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that kids are the same size as pets, and that they can probably squeeze through any spaces your animals use.
On the other hand, this is a pretty smart kid.
5. Double Contact Lenses
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Double lenses don’t mean double vision.
Anybody with poor eyesight will tell you that taking care of your eyes is no picnic. It’s no fun having to add an extra step to your routine each day just so you can see the world around you.
This person took it all an extra step by putting in an extra contact lens.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean her vision got even better.
6. A Majestic Bear
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Maybe if you squint you can see it.
Nature photographers need to pay especially close attention to their environment, especially since nature doesn’t wait for anyone and can change in the blink of an eye.
One photographer learned this the not-so-easy way when they used the wrong lens to capture the rare moment a bare emerged. The resulting photo looks more like a blob than a bear.
7. The Sunroof Crack
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A different kind of car wash.
Cars and weather events do not go together well. That’s why people protect their cars with things like protective paint and snow tires.
That all helps save the outside of a car, but there’s only so much you can do when the weather reaches the inside of your car. Of course, you could just keep your sunroof closed, but it require paying attention to do that.
8. Make Way For Scooters
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Even if it means getting in the way of the police.
Most people know that you’re supposed to stop and allow emergency vehicles to pass as soon as you hear a siren. But, sometimes scooter riders think they’re exempt from normal traffic laws.
Or…maybe they just don’t pay attention to what’s going on in the street around them.
9. Texting Fail
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Make sure you double check your phone contacts.
Everyone needs to vent to their friends and significant others every now and then, and often that venting is about other people. It’s fine to talk about how somebody annoys you.
But you probably want to pay close attention to whether or not you’re accidentally directly texting that person all your shade about them.
We are cringing for poor Beth.
10. A New Way to Play the Trombone
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Ads often don’t get things right.
The people in advertisements are models and actors. No one can blame them for not knowing everything about the products they’re shilling.
But when they’re playing an instrument in an ad, you’d think they’d want to at least be photographed holding it in the right direction.
11. Toddler In Charge
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Moms can’t turn around for even a second.
You’ve never seen destruction until you’ve seen a rogue toddler on the loose. One mom turned around for just a second and that’s all it took for her toddler to go absolutely wild in a locked bathroom.
That family learned that a whole lot can happen when mom’s not looking.
12. An Out-of-the-Box Fashion Choice
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Someone got the laundry baskets mixed up.
Sometimes super-baggy pants are a specific fashion choice. And other times they’re just a result of a kid accidentally stealing his mom’s clothes.
The real issue here is that no one was paying enough attention so it took almost an entire day before anyone realized the big fashion faux pas.
13. “School Supplise”
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Maybe somebody should go back to school.
Spelling can be tricky for everyone. But even if you’re the worst speller in the word, hopefully when you’re putting together a big public sign that lots of people will see, you take the time to do a little proofreading.
Walgreen’s definitely could have used spell check on this one.
14. A Loading Dock Fail
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It looks like a pretty tight squeeze.
Storage facilities are made to, well, store stuff. So that means moving stuff in and out fairly often.
Usually a little thought goes into the design of the loading docks so that people and objects can move in and out easily. Unfortunately, this one wasn’t made with that kind of thought and it would require some ninja moves to maneuver it.
15. A Golfing Casualty
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“That went well.”
Injuries are always a part of sports, but a lot of athletes are able to avoid them by paying attention. In this case, though, it looks like the athlete almost went toward his loose golf ball instead of away from him.
Maybe some better attention would have prevented what looks like a super painful foul ball.
Did these photos inspire you to pay more attention?
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We all make mistakes every once in a while, but some of the above are pretty egregious.
Errors like this are even more upsetting when people are getting paid the big bucks for them — like with these hilarious magazine Photoshop fails.