Did you know you’re allowed to warm up your shower before you get in it? What about that a double scoop of ice cream doesn’t have to be the same flavor twice?

If those questions feel almost insulting, congratulations, you’ve never had a “duh” moment. For the rest of us, social media has become a strangely comforting confessional booth, where people are lining up to admit the embarrassingly obvious life hacks they somehow missed for years, sometimes decades. And once you start reading, you can’t stop, because you will absolutely see yourself in at least one of these.

There’s actually a reason these moments feel so specific and so humbling. It’s the same trick your brain plays on you with visual illusions, like the classic image that’s either two faces about to kiss or a vase, depending on how your brain first locks onto it. Once you see it one way, it’s shockingly hard to see it any other way, even when the other answer was staring you in the face the whole time.

Why our brains get stuck on the obvious

This phenomenon isn’t restricted to the way our eyes and brains perceive visual images. Simple, everyday tasks or problems can have the same effect. Sometimes, a challenge seems frustrating, difficult, or even impossible when the blindingly simple solution is right in front of us the entire time.

These “duh” moments can take an embarrassingly long time, years even, to occur to us. But we’re all equally guilty of overlooking the obvious from time to time. Thankfully, some brave souls on social media are sharing their most embarrassing “duh” moments so the rest of us don’t feel so alone.

The internet’s best duh moments

1. You can wait for the shower to warm up before getting in

A user on Reddit bared their soul with this one:

“I didn’t realise you can warm up the shower before you get in for years. Nobody told me the proper procedure so for years I would turn it on while I’m inside already,........

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