Tired of hold music? Welcome to the 'annoyance economy.'

A new report ascribes a cost to the \

Think about the time you spend waiting on hold, blocking junk messages, and clicking – and clicking, and clicking – to cancel unwanted subscriptions. 

A new report ascribes a cost to the “Annoyance Economy”: All that we pay in lost time and money for the hassles of daily life as American consumers. 

The study, published in February by the progressive Groundwork Collaborative think tank, focuses on what it terms a torrent of small abuses heaped on consumers by bad actors and indifferent corporations: Phone scams. Robocalls and spam emails. Junk fees on tickets, bank transactions and hotel rooms. 

A major function of the annoyance economy, the report says, is to make it harder for consumers to accomplish anything that’s against a company’s financial interest. Consider how much more trying it can be to cancel a subscription than to start one, or how long it can take to reach customer service when an app doesn’t work. 

All told, the report says, the annoyance economy costs American consumers $166 billion a year in lost time and dollars. Here’s a rough breakdown: