14 Horrifying Stories Of People Breaking Their Tech

Shattered screens = shattered dreams. Asurion Home+ can help you pick up the pieces.

We asked readers to tell us their most cringe-worthy stories of broken tech devices. Here's what they shared:

1. "The Sound of 10,000 Sorrows"

WWE / Via giphy.com

"My son put his laptop on a shelf. My daughter began moving the shelf, after setting the laptop on the floor. My Dad came in, grabbed a chair to help my daughter move the shelf, put the chair leg onto the laptop and climbed onto the chair. Yep, that crack we heard was the sound of 10,000 sorrows."

—jp6592

2. Solar Eclipse

New Girl / Via giphy.com

"I had a smartphone that I completely fried from the inside out. I took a picture of a solar eclipse without a special lens because I was a high schooler who didn’t think their life through. The phone screen formed a small black dot of dead pixels that slowly but steadily engulfed the entire screen over the course of a week."

—monotonousrainbow

3. Re-Routed

CBS All Access / Via giphy.com

“My roommate and I were deep-cleaning the apartment, and near the end — tired of cleaning, getting sloppy with our organizational choices — I found myself holding our old router. It seemed too important to throw away, so I started scanning the room for somewhere to put it where it'd be out of sight. I chose the drawer under the oven, where we kept our cookie sheets. Genius! Cut to that night, we're making tater tots, and I realize the router is on fire because the drawer underneath the oven is ALSO AN OVEN.”

–Kristin R.

4. Bad Dog, Bad

Boomerang Official / Via giphy.com

"While I was at work, I left my laptop open on my bed. I didn’t think my Doberman puppy would be able to get up there, and he had been so good about not chewing things lately. But of course he did, and he chewed up the keyboard! Luckily the computer itself still worked fine, but to this day (three years later) I still have a busted keyboard with random keys completely missing."

—susanamariar2

5. Potato Does Not Compute

HULU / Via giphy.com

"I was once making supper and watching a movie on my laptop that was stored on an external hard drive. The counter was not big enough for all the tech, so I had the hard drive on the floor. I was preparing potatoes when one rolled off the counter and landed right on the hard drive. My tech got fried by a falling potato."

—Heather

6. "Spoke" Too Soon

Boomerang Official / Via giphy.com

"I'm new to bike riding in the city. Over the summer, I used my new fancy-as-heck headphones to call my dad while I was biking to the park. The wires wound up in the wheel and snapped. No more headphones + biking."

–Anne Louise K.

7. Wheel of Misfortune

Game of Thrones / Via giphy.com

"My 9-year-old was taking a virtual dance class during the pandemic and cartwheeled into my brand-new laptop. Broke the screen and dented the whole top half. She was fine. My computer, not so much."

—caitlync4659f82bc

8. Game Over

VH1 / Via giphy.com

"Left my game console slot up outside in the rain once. It worked but wouldn't take game cards anymore. Much, much later, I somehow decided that the best way to fix it was by stuffing it with modeling clay and then pulling it out when it dries. 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ Can’t break what’s already broken, right?? Well, needless to say, I ended up ruining it."

—brare45996

9. Going Ham

Netflix / Via giphy.com

"I was in my dorm room trying to eat a ham sandwich on my bed, stream a show, and drink milk all at the same time without a table. I grabbed the cup of milk with my teeth to get in bed and spilled it all over my laptop and fried the logic board. I still remember the exact point in the show's episode where the screen flickered black (and the smell of rotten milk days later as I tried to salvage my data)."

—Danielle

10. A Hole Mess

The Mick / Via giphy.com

"I worked at a cafe a few years ago and we had these aprons that were part of our uniforms. One day as I came in, I put the apron on and tried to put my phone in my pocket. Right as I did that, it immediately hit the hard tile floor. Assuming I had just "missed the pocket," I proceeded to stick my phone in my pocket again. This time I had noticed it slipped out of the pocket and slid across the floor. My phone screen was completely shattered. 🤦‍♀️It turns out there was a hole in the pocket."

—katherinesoto891

11. Domino Effect

X Factor Global / Via giphy.com

"My bed is lofted above my desk. Recently my phone had fallen off my bed while it was charging (I keep it on my bed to muffle the alarm as to not annoy my roommate as much) and it knocked over a tiny vacuum that I keep on my windowsill (to vacuuming up crumps, eraser shavings, and pencil lead pieces from my desk). And the vacuum in turn knocked over a tumbler with some soda still left in it, which then in turn spilled all over my desk and laptop, sticking up the arrow keys and soaking my notebook. It was a crazy freak accident domino effect!"

—brare45996

12. Oh, Brother

Chicago Fire / Via giphy.com

"Not me but this happened to my brother. A few years ago, he had just gotten a brand-new tablet. He didn't have it more than three hours before he ended up dropping it down the stairs. When he picked it up, it surprisingly wasn't broken. Then he proceeded to drop it again and it completely shattered when it hit the carpeted floor."

—addiekinz

13. Paint By Numbers

Spongebob Squarepants / Via giphy.com

"My dad was painting the bathroom, and he'd just gotten the newest edition of his smartphone like three days before. He put the bucket of paint on the other side of the bathroom so it wouldn’t fall into the paint. he was standing on a ladder, and his phone fell out of his pocket, bounced off the toilet, off the sink, and right into the bucket of paint on the other side of the room. I remember his scream very vividly."

—leoc421edb45f

14. Lost In Transit

The Orville / Via giphy.com

"I was on the first month of a yearlong backpacking trip. I had my fancy laptop that I had saved up for and was so careful with it. I never had liquids around it. My friends and I had stopped at a coffee shop for a drink and Wi-Fi, and I waited until I had finished my drink to pull out my laptop. But then, my friend asked if I wanted the rest of her drink. I went to reach for it — sudden calamity! Mocha, all over the keyboard! I waited until we got back to our hostel, where one of my friends opened it up to see if it could be salvaged. He found caramelized sugar on the logic board. I held in my tears and carried my broken, beloved laptop around with me for another couple of months until I could ship it back to the US."

—katmaccc

We could all do with fewer "oh, s#!@" moments. That's why there's Asurion Home+. It may not protect everything, but it covers the home tech you use most, now or in the future — including TVs, laptops, tablets, smart watches, gaming systems, and more — all with one simple plan.

Responses have been edited for clarity. Additional imagery by Getty Images.