UI Designers need to bring back the childhood trauma aspect of software
this post was submitted on 21 Jan 2026
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It never went away. They just figured out how to make it subtle so it could be active all the time instead of just when the computer wasn't working properly. Do you really feel like you're using trauma-free software day-to-day?
Software integrating mandatory online accounts, ai, and other anti consumer tactics: 
I will always remember Eternal Darkness for getting me off the couch to go reset my GameCube cause it appeared frozen. I didn’t get all the way there before realizing the game was fucking with me
I almost fell for it while being at the brink of a nervous meltdown.
It never left, they just monetized it.
what is it?
iirc this is the screen you would get when the PS2 was borked and wouldn't boot properly, or something like that. It's been a long time but I do still remember the terror I associate with this image lol
Edit: Actually it might have been a disc read error
It was a disc read error. In that era, the most likely issue was that your disc was too beat up to work properly.
Another big reason, a lot of the earlier PS2 models had a poor quality laser that would go bad really quick
That kind of trauma is probably why I had stopped using optical media by 2005.
That explains why I also remembered the smell and texture of toothpaste lol
Oh, so kind of like the red ring of death for us xbox kids!
- Childhood
- PS2
did i wonder into Instagram or some such nonsense? The 'verse is supposed to be just us old nerds.
I was trying to figure out some Commodore 64 screen I was looking at.
Bruh, 30 is the new 60 because of gestures wildly all around
I’m this old
Oh hey! The music started, must be about halfway loaded. Guess I'll go grab a snack.
Whoa, video games on a cassette tape??
How many floppy disks is that worth?
Less than 1/20 of a floppy disk. It's like 60-70 kb per side.
Pretty sick what they could fit on those things, considering. Some truly beautiful art.
PS2 was my last console, i still have a silver slim one just gathering dust because emulators exist, but for me that was the golden age of gaming...
That's goatse, right?
I suspect this is some kind of console error? I've only owned a SNES before becoming part of the PC master race, so just like the kids of today this early millennial has no idea what he's looking at exactly.
It's the PS2 disc error screen, just before the actual disc read error message displays it does this little red animation. This is like the very beginning of that animation