Oh! That's the screw holding up the shelf. That took me too long.

I had some "floating shelves" without visible support. The shelf is important, and the screw is important... but the little keyhole that holds the shelf upright is actually the most important part. If it's made of cheap sheet metal, it'll deform under the slightest weight, causing your picture and nicknacks to come crashing down onto your face while you sleep.

Thanks Ikea!

The wood support beam inside the walls:

As a person born and raised in California (even though I live in the Midwest now), I could never bring myself to install a shelf above where my head is while I sleep.

As a person; same.

Low effort comic, where are the tops of the blue book and the frame in the second panel?

Also, make sure to not accidentally pick a 1mm bigger drill bit or gravity and your whisky bottle collection will make your apartment smell like a pub for two weeks

lol, I saw the same

You mean the drywall paper, chalk and expansion foam insulation that are suddenly considered structural components.

Damn, how are you supposed to hang a TV with that?

Wide angle view?

If your shelf screw is only in the drywall, especially just partially in the drywall, its going to rip out your wall. Make sure you have at least a 1-1.5inch of fastener after your shelf bracket. Get a stud finder and attach the screw to the studs (where available) If you dont have any studs to use, get drywall anchors which will help distribute the force.

But they're both supporting the same load!

You rip out half the wall, then put in some prone to deformation over time plywood, then drywall over the top of it again.

As an South African, I do something suffer from having to grind cable channels in our stone and brick walls with an angle grinder.

But we are the 6th generation of people living in our house. Its almost 250 years old and likely to last another 6 generations.