Why Some Apps Are Intentionally Slow - Cheddar Explains

In tech, speed is usually a major priority. But did you know it’s actually possible to create a program that is too fast? So some websites and apps are slowing down. From TurboTax to Facebook’s Privacy checkup, this phenomenon occurs more than you might think.
Sources:
The Atlantic
Fast Company
BBC Future
UX Magazine
Nielsen Norman Group
Ryan Buell, Michael Norton: “The Labor Illusion”
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[@ARocketFromSpaceshipEarth]

Allow tech literate people to disable this. Set an “advanced user” option in the settings menu that removes the artificial wait times.

[@KareemEltouny]

Or name it: "Non-idiot user" option

[@kolelokaram8541]

I'd welcome it. But to do so, they have to admit that there is an additional delay. Nothing compells them to so. Especially with the risk of public outcry and harm to the bottom line.

[@kolelokaram8541]

@@KareemEltouny That just begs for a lawsuit.

[@scarpusgaming]

@@kolelokaram8541 not really.

[@christianmoore7109]

Absolutely. They're super obvious even now, as they're often nonsensically long for what's going on, yet always just the right length for people to notice them.

[@arturosalas12]

Hahahaha you got me there Blender, now let's remove that wait time for renders

[@joerosevino]

OH MY GOD IF ONLY THAT WERE TRUE 😭

[@funi-xd5265]

😂😂

[@crashyyy4116]

lmao

[@paucolome4298]

LMAOOO

[@HF-cx4wl]

lol

[@kingjia90]

These loading bar that goes so fast from 1% to 80% then stop for half hour and you start wonder if it's freeze or not and you put mouse cursor or finger on the line to check if it's moving slowly by nanometers

[@catalinadog157]

I related to this too much

[@TheSammy58]

lmao this was me with the sims 3

[@elainelouve]

I don't think that's artificial. What would anyone benefit from such long wait times anyway? In Sims the speed really depends on how efficient your computer is. I've played the same version of that game on an older, slower computer, and a newer, much faster one, so have seen the difference with my own eyes. The animation just makes the 5 or 30 minute wait less boring.

[@crispybaguette8670]

Ehem it is pixels

[@Dhruv1223]

And then you realise it was an mp4

[@grandsome1]

Instead of giving me an artificial load time, I'd rather have the software brag of its speed next to the instantaneous results.

[@SDBR]

Agreed! Like how Google tells you how long it took to render the results.

[@brightmong7290]

@@SDBR well Google's economic model is to keep you searching. the more searches you make, the more money they make. if Google thought it would increase searches by adding a loading screen, they undoubtedly would

[@madshorn5826]

I think there is a balance. Unfurl animations of menus are equally artificial, but helps you build a mental model of where stuff comes from. 2-3 seconds "lemme see" animations is ok, 20-30 seconds certainly not.

[@MrJohnboyofsj]

Yes, they just need to be more transparent, maybe a disclaimer about why something takes the time it takes rather than outright lying...

[@mixiekins]

Wasn't this the reason google searches would show the time it took to find the result? I should think that framing it as a paramount of quality and convenience should work, they just need to tout it until it becomes a norm we expect. Now everyone loses their fucking minds whenever a search takes a split second longer than usual "OMG IS GOOGLE DOWN?!?!"

[@KelniusTV]

This doesn't only exist in the tech industry. I've worked in administration, and I used to do this all the time. They'd ask me "Oh, and I can I get X?" - and I know we're out of X - we've been out of X since 10am, but if I just say "No" or even "No, there's none left", then it seems more rude. But, if I got off my chair, went to the supply room, said "g'day" to the storage room people, then head back out and say "Sorry, we're all out" - then the customer is happier, since even though they didn't get what they wanted, they feel like I attempted to help them, for spending 10 seconds making a pointless trip.

[@ratamacue0320]

False dichotomy. What if you say, "sorry, we're all out" without the time waste?

[@maducrutz9384]

I have elders who will fight with a store clerk if they just tell the truth so I see why its a dumb thing people have to do (Also seen younger people fight with clerks over this things)

[@doesntreply]

As someone who worked in retail this is definitely the case, if I ever told someone we were out of something they'd usually start asking for the manager or complain loudly. It's like come on, I'm just telling you what it says, but if you walk in the back for like 2-3 minutes (not too long or too short) and then come back and say, sorry you're all out, then they don't yell or ask for a manager. They'd either ask when it would be back in or just thank me. Most people think that this has never been done to them either or that they'd know. 😆

[@nws2002]

@@doesntreply Totally true. I learned early on to just go to the stockroom for a minute or so and stand there, then come back and say "sorry, looks like we're out." If you just give them the truthful answer right away they start fighting with you about it.

[@FrVitoBe]

would think damn they cant invetory this on there PC! just joking

[@pro272727]

I thought they were just stupid, now I know they think I'm stupid.

[@vincentmuyo]

So yes, they're stupid.

[@joecramp2987]

Yeah I've noticed these recently on websites and noticed they don't make sense and just see it as frustrating. Especially on airline websites

[@jimdandy8996]

Iv'e always viewed these "fake waits" on websites as ridiculously bogus and damn cheesy. This isn't news to me. They must be using uneducated dolts in their focus groups.

[@TheSimArchitect]

@@jimdandy8996 They surely are, most educated people would not accept what they pay unless they have tons of free time and are bored.

[@TheSimArchitect]

@@joecramp2987 It is really terrible, because it makes changing searches harder, but I guess that's what they want, we get exhausted and give up instead of doing 100s of similar searches to see what's the cheapest option, for example.

[@brittanyguy1400]

I work at a chain restaurant and we “hold” the food in the computer because sometimes the food takes less than a minute to prepare. Customers get freaked when their food comes out so fast

[@robertpendzick9250]

McDonalds use to have a 'club' or reward (button) for their staff who did more then 50? orders per hour? Anyone recall what the number was? Must have been in the 1960's or 70's.

[@abdulsoleh7131]

Yes I would freaked out too

[@skytan4436]

Then fast food should be called waiting food xD

[@vincentmuyo]

Gee thanks, I love sitting around waiting for food.

[@AMalas]

I get excitedly freaked out when I get my fast food order at the drive through just as im taping my damn contactless card. Yay no wait time today!

[@256shadesofgrey]

When I see obviously fake progress bars, my thought is instantly "this app/website is a scam".

[@SergeantExtreme]

You're not entirely wrong when it comes to Intuit products.

[@LaFonteCheVi]

Then you should think virtually all apps are a scam as almost all progress bars are fake. Very few actually have meaning.

[@256shadesofgrey]

@@LaFonteCheVi What kind of garbage apps are you using?

[@yaelm631]

@@256shadesofgrey Download ram ? My pc is much better now

[@warmike]

Can I bump this?

[@Charizard215]

Imagine how much time has been wasted thanks to this idea.

[@Kaucukovnik666]

That's what makes me angry about this. Everyone could be a little better informed and save a lot of time, but no. Let's keep the decption going. If a company is so serious to inform the user about expended effort, why not give the option to display a log file? Why not advertise the fact that your tech can do all those complicated things in split second?

[@logicalfundy]

Agreed, but what can be done? People are pretty stupid sometimes. There are similar things with money, like the sunk cost fallacy.

[@MihkelKukk]

@@logicalfundy yeah, we might think that the average person would benefit, but man, we are on the internet, we know that this shit can work real fast, knew that before this video, but most people don't, hell, we are the huge minority... idk, at least make it a hidden feature to disable the animations or smth, but yeah, as it is for now, I don't see them going anywhere as even today most people are pretty tech illiterate. Might be a solution to get rid of the loadings by bragging about fast algorithms and stuff, but idk.

[@xxportalxx.]

Yeah but how much time has been wasted by ppl just staring at walls for no reason? My bet is more 😂

[@jsobrino]

Sometimes it can actually be done for a reason though. Like for example, an app or site might have a delay of 200 ms to allow certain things to load before displaying info and risking making things look off or weird. 200 ms is short enough that you would hardly notice much anyways, and can actually make the experience a lot smoother

[@Chosen1Creator]

Driving to places: "It's all good." Getting instantly teleported to places: "This freaking sucks!"

[@mrmaniac3]

@Богдан Кондратов less cloning and subatomic annihilation and the lot

[@24601st]

i love getting stuck in traffic. whenever im able to freely drive on the road im immediately convinced that something's wrong

[@odisclemons9700]

I think the point of all this is you would be second guessing the process: How could they teleport me instantly? Did they kill me, transmit my data, and recreate a copy of me? Have I been dying every time they do this? I think i'll wait in traffic. Much less dying involved in that.

[@zyansheep]

@@mrmaniac3 unless it's quantum teleportation or some kind of spacetime wormhole.

[@jamesholt7340]

Actually commuting is the biggest waste if time in our lives,I'd rather speed limits doubles so I can get to my destination faster..

[@jusa8130]

I wish loading bars never reached "100%" It's really frustrating when they get stuck at 100, when they obviously shouldn't.

[@beatlejinx4714]

If the loading bar is at 100% then there shouldn't be a loading bar anymore. XD

[@Luxalpa]

There's loading bars that never reach 100% and instead just asymptotically close in on it. I've never seen something as infuriating.

[@mahirooyama9424]

It would just get stuck at 99% then

[@jusa8130]

@@mahirooyama9424 That makes more sense than being stuck at 100

[@zoiuduu]

Pfff dude please...I use atubecatcher and I saw more than 2400% I swear it and he video couldn't even be played.. Is a total mess sometimes

[@Wintersghost135]

Reminds me of the old story of a guy that just bought an expensive horse. He goes into a store and tells the clerk he wants a horse blanket. The clerk brings out a blanket for $20. The customer was unhappy with the cheap blanket for his expensive horse so he tells the clerk that he wants a nicer blanket. So the clerk brings out the same type of blanket but a different color and says it’s $40. The customer still wasn’t happy so the store clerk kept bringing out the same types of blanket but quoting a higher price for each one. When the clerk finally brings out a “hundred dollar” blanket, then the customer was satisfied. This is much like the story of the famous expensive guitars that only became popular after they were artificially marked way up on price. So it’s not what you’re buying that matters, it’s what you think you’re buying.

[@paulomelettilestrade]

If something is expensive, there's normally a reason. That's why there are brands that has just higher prices and low quality and still make millions.

[@S2Tubes]

Beats by Dre. Cheap junk at a premium price? Apple took an interest in that.

[@Wintersghost135]

👍

[@Wintersghost135]

Paulo Meletti 👍

[@Primalxbeast]

I I Sounds like the entire wine industry.

[@Deady4u]

Perfect example of tech illiteracy slowing down progress.

[@vetamauromihali]

Trueee

[@mixiekins]

These waits have frustrated me for years, I don't need grandpa mode, save it for those same idiots who floor it to pass you just to wait at the light that was already red. This is only useful for those same morons who don't understand that their impatience serves only to slow traffic down for everyone including themselves. As with those drivers who cut in front of everyone else to cause delays, they are of the same mindset that falls for simulated labors which the rest of us have no option to bypass. There should be a requirement in the same way that autoplay music/ads penalizes your ranking, in that you must flag false labor so we can disable it with adblock-like plugins.

[@leajiaure]

Not really, it's considering the very important impact of perception on good user experience.

[@Deady4u]

@@leajiaure Sure but that only strengthens the point that a lot of people don't understand how computers work. Which at this day and age is like ??? Try to research on what IT support guys have to deal with on a regular basis, you might be shocked

[@TheSpacecraftX]

@@leajiaure only for people too tech illiterate to understand how fast a computer is and how quickly they can/should complete these operations.

[@Nephtys1]

This hits too close to home. As a programmer I was also required to put such fake waits into some of my more recent projects.

[@kolelokaram8541]

I don't blame you, but I dislike your boss.

[@chelsey8737]

@@kolelokaram8541 this is a great response

[@kolelokaram8541]

@@notjered8911 I am dissatisfied with their customers.

[@HareHaven]

@@kolelokaram8541 burnnnn xD

[@DeViceCrimsin_]

Your clients are sociopathic. No cap ...

[@ETERNlTUS]

"Loading accompanied by animation telling what the algorithm is doing" Meanwhile the Sims algorithm = "Adding Hidden Agendas", "Charging Ozone Layer", "Graphing Whale Migration"

[@SnoFitzroy]

This is exactly what I was thinking. I find it weird when the same developer doesn't do this consistently though. Just within EA, Plants vs. Zombies Adventures (doesn't exist anymore) and now PvZ2 both had/have loading bars that ell you what it's doing. PvZA had stuff like "Placating peashooters," or "Energizing synergies," while PvZ2 has stuff like "Loading CDN" and other generic quotes about what data it's looking for. I personally don't mind the more fun versions because the text used can be anything from an in-joke from the game or app, to actual real information, just as a gameplay tip or whatever, but it's nicer when it's honest as I know "for sure" (or at least with more confidence) that the loading is "real"

[@mrmaniac3]

Ah, Sim City 4, I love you.

[@mrmaniac3]

@@SnoFitzroy EA is the publisher, not the developer

[@legoentertainment8750]

Discord: executing the middle class

[@chickeninabox]

Fueling those trucks.

back in one of the machintoshes, apple did something similar. The chess game was taking too little time to calculate and played the perfect moves, this frustrated some people and they added a delay to make it seem like the machine is thinking hard for that perfect move.

[@fiddley]

I don't think it was playing perfect moves instantly. Even AlphaZero would not play a perfect game of chess even with thinking time!

[@edwardhoffenheim3249]

Computer: "He just moved his queen right in line of my very visible rook.... Let me just give him a few seconds to undo that... No? Oh well"

[@nicholasschroeder3678]

I go on Chessbase and play the occasional blitz with a real player. Day or night it's astonishing how fast I'm paired up and play. And I'm certain they're real people by the kind of moves--good and bad--the pauses always come when I would expect them.

[@gdavid]

But it's a game AI, something you expect to behave like a human player, not a search or something you expect the program to do fast. Dumbing/slowing down game AI is okay. Doing the same with other kinds of applications is just dumb.

[@charlieangkor8649]

I feel anger and disgust towards Apple.

[@dy9955]

Comparing waiting for food vs waiting for tech is not the same. I expect to wait for food, I don't expect to wait for tech.

[@Kaucukovnik666]

Would it be because you understand tech, and also remember that much slower machines could often accomplish the same tasks a lot faster? For the regular person, technology is magic, and magicians know all about reality vs appearances.

[@tehRedRunner]

And then there are users that understand computers, who look at these delays and think, "Why is this taking so long? Is the program really this bad?"

[@Inseut]

Yeah. This delay only makes me think that the program is really slow, crappy, sluggish, and the person who coded it should work in something else. Lol

[@dangitspang4667]

*Stupid bogosort*

[@Steveplays28]

@@dangitspang4667 Lol

[@weasel945]

Exactly, makes me trust it less

[@ikannunaplays]

They always annoyed me because I'm a developer and I knew the moment I first ran into one that they were artificial, please don't waste my time. I affirmly avoid services/products that utilize this strategy.

[@dundee248]

Ikannuna Plays Lol, no you didn’t. Unless you constantly surf the web with dev console netview open ;-)

[@gernottiefenbrunner172]

@@dundee248 obviously you don't notice every single artificial wait time, but sometimes you do notice that there's either artificial wait time, or the developers were ridiculously incompetent.

[@ikannunaplays]

@@dundee248 Oh, you must be brilliant

[@ikannunaplays]

@@gernottiefenbrunner172 I don't use anything that I feel can be accomplished in a 100-400 milliseconds. I may encounter such, but that doesn't mean I'll continue after that encountering the artificial wait or lack of programming prowess. If I do I encourage stupid things and I'll using my own stupid reasons making me the stupider of the two. So I'll choose my high ground instead so that I can maintain my intellectual superiority.

[@BrieoRobino]

@@dundee248 I noticed it immediately in turbo tax.

[@S2Tubes]

I've noticed these artificial waits in scam websites claiming to offer rare movies that are difficult to find elsewhere. They have a fake buffering animation, but there is no network activity. They then have a popup that wants your CC, phone number, or email etc. Instant close.

[@mrmaniac3]

Send giftwrapped DDOS attacks

[@tl1882]

@@mrmaniac3 like installing a new 3ds game but this time its a ddos

[@AlexWalkerSmith]

When the progress bar is very consistent, and moves the same way every time, it's obviously a fake loading screen. I've always wondered "if they're trying to fake this convincingly, why don't they put some randomization in the progress bar, and make it different every time?"

[@telemachin]

That's litteraly how i became a "good" business, i never took an appointment for this week, always the next week. And called back the client a day or two later notifying them that i have a "suddenly free time slot". And they think i'm good because i'm busy and making them a favor. I'm just lazy and want to work at my own pace, and improving my image with 1 phone call.

[@kabochaVA]

It's called "managing expectations" (or in some cases "managing idiots", or "managing idiots' expectations"). It works in other fields too. Once, I completed a project in a couple of days, but I told my boss that I would wait before submitting it to his boss. He was surprised, and asked me why? "Because that guy has no understanding of what we are doing. Next time, he'll come with a much harder problem, expect us to complete it in a couple of days, then criticise us if we don't". My boss laughed, and let me artificially add a delay (he even covered us, saying we were all working really hard on it... I miss him as a boss). A couple of weeks later, guess who came with a really hard problem to solve and asked "it can be done in a week, just like last time?" :-/ There are times when I'd rather be proven wrong... -_-

[@obits3]

Богдан Кондратов - It’s only lying if you think in terms of the physical creation of the good or service. Every good or service has soft skill costs that must be accounted for to avoid problems. In the given example, the service being provided wasn’t just the project that was delayed, it was also the service of making sure upper management had realistic expectations of how to manage the business. Delaying the first deliverable insured that the second deliverable would be given enough time. The idea is to set your timelines based on what is truly sustainable in the long run.

[@joermnyc]

In other words, people are the problem. I’d rather have fast results, than a silly animation. It’s a computer, it’s not going to screw up basic equations!

[@pink1200]

It's not going to screw up any equations, as long as decimals aren't being used (for the most part)

[@mrmaniac3]

@@pink1200 bro what about the error corrections tho (Ye servers and data centers use error correction hardware ikik)

[@iCore7Gaming]

Exactly.....

[@dputra]

The computer won't, but the developer might will.

[@atimholt]

I turned off all the animations in Windows.

[@msthalamus2172]

As a software engineer for over a quarter of a century, I recognize these fake delays instantly, and it ticks me off every time. I have a rough idea of the problem scope going in and I know how fast data center servers can be. There's simply no way it takes more than microseconds for TurboTax or Facebok to do what they're doing.

[@msthalamus2172]

Comcast has started adding fake keystroke sounds in between voice prompts, fooling exactly no one.

[@MasicoreLord]

@@msthalamus2172 So does AT&T and probably many other companies

[@ProjSHiNKiROU]

Waiting is for boomers. But seriously, remove the wait time and brag about cloud-powered quantum computing searching for flights in a nanosecond.

[@mechamicro]

True,

[@exonick5820]

LMAOOOO. Nice idea

[@gigantkranion]

Seriously, this reeks of people who want the cashiers to only stand while working. Too many people like the idea that something/someone is slaving over for them. You take that away, they lose interest. I don't care, I pay, you give me what I want and we move on.

[@anirudhkumar4507]

Exactly!

[@xxportalxx.]

Although you're saying remove a slight deception and replace it with a completely fraudulent claim...

[@DoomFinger511]

"Labor Illusion" I've been using that move for years at my job

[@Lesrevesdhiver]

I do that when I am ahead of schedule. But yeah, "Labor illusion" has existed for as long as jobs have.

[@Eralen00]

I'm always suspicious of smooth, consistent progress bars. At least randomize it a little bit

[@Tevon93]

​@My Thoughts Its funny when people get offended for no reason.

[@rawsaucerobert]

@My Thoughts How is the loading bar rewarding if it's not realistic? Seeing a loading bar that is incremented consistently makes me feel like the product is of low value or a scam. If they want to fool people, they should at least do it right

[@garantiertnicht]

If it is legitimately doing a similar thing _n_ times it should be very easy to get a linear progression tho

[@delpher32exe]

Don't give them ideas

[@wealthiness]

I knew it was phony the first time I saw one of those, it's obvious servers are fast enough to send that info over instantly, I dislike apps that do that, I want what I searched for fast.

[@TNinja0]

Imagine the amazing advertisement you can make use of this. "Our app is literally 10000% faster, and we ain't lying. Guaranteed."

[@ThePC007]

Lol, that'd be funny. Here in Germany, you're not allowed to compare your product to another company's one in an advertisement, but in the US where you can, this would be amazing to see.

[@kiwi9065]

I live in Germany

[@angolin9352]

@@ThePC007 ...What? Why can't you compare your product to a competitors? That makes no sense to me.

[@ThePC007]

@@angolin9352 I just googled it and apparently, it's been legalized in the year 2000, so I guess I wasn't really up to speed on that. My bad.

[@angolin9352]

@@ThePC007 I wasn't saying you're wrong, I was just asking if you knew some rationale for that law. Some laws that sound crazy sound less crazy if you know the history behind them. Sorry if that came across as confrontational.

[@eddie5525]

The expectations of the lowest denominator customer is causing big tech services to essentially "bottleneck" efficiency and productivity for the rest of us.

[@xxportalxx.]

You say that, but psychological phenomena like this are generally pretty universal, whether you'd like to admit it or not

[@paulo0e]

It's fukin unbelievable. Even with food, at first I'd be concerned about how they can cook and deliver so faster than the others, but I could have a look at the kitchen to feel ok and, in the end, if the food is great, why wouldn't I become a frequent customer? That's just sad!

[@xxportalxx.]

@Богдан Кондратов well the studies are usually pretty genuine, it's the interpretation that you need to be careful of

[@xxportalxx.]

@@marlinlenchanteur4260 not just revenue, without it ppl don't trust the product, thus they may not use a feature which is beneficial to them, sacrificing security and productivity

[@mrmaniac3]

McDonalds used to serve burgers in under a minute, way back in the 50s. You can see for yourself that it wouldn't happen today.

[@texasred5665]

Here’s a crazy idea, be honest with people. Put a little disclaimer after the results and get rid of the waits

[@mrmaniac3]

Yes please send me the honesty and deliver it directly to my house via computer email

[@hardrivethrutown]

Seriously get rid of it... I'm literally always in a rush, I don't have time for this stuff

[@EmeraldMara85]

Developer options on your phone, it would cut down the animations on your phone but not these apps. Still, it is saving time.

[@legoentertainment8750]

@@EmeraldMara85 I hate wait times but I'll wait for an animation. I know i could disable animations and have it faster but having no animations is so unnatural to me. I hate not having animations

[@Zamber999]

My Uncle is an accountant that does people's personal taxes. He, being good at his job and fast, can get an easy tax return done in about 10 or 15 minutes. When he does them on his time he does them fast but when he does a return in front of a client he intentionally does it slightly slower. He said if he does it really fast people will think that they are overpaying even though it is technically better for them if he does it faster.

[@ameyd3728]

That's what my 4 year old android was doing all this time....now I got it

[@satyamprakash7030]

Ugh... Maybe not😭

[@maynardvargas6898]

He's joking guys. Hahaha.

[@tonyellen_]

Now I get why dialup internet had those noises! User experience. Aww man, did it sure work. Childhood memories of anticipating the moment that I would get online after all of that chirping, chiming and ringing. Sighhhhh

[@ThePC007]

My 8-year-old Android phone seems to be prioritizing background tasks rather than foreground tasks, which is what makes it slow. Receiving an email or a WhatsApp message can make it freeze for tens of seconds and sometimes even crash it. I wonder if that's some form of planned obsolescence or not, but whatever.

[@SnoFitzroy]

@@ThePC007 "My 8 year old phone nearly doesn't work I wonder if that's intended" > 8 years old > I wonder if it should be crashing this much

[@jaberwoky_]

I wrote Clipper systems for small business starting in the 80's. Loading the system always took a bit of time so I threw in a "quips" function at startup, randomly displaying one liner gags, famous quotes or bits of trivia. The users enjoyed the delay. Coding was fun.

[@FMRovers]

wait wait WAIT!!! what about when you try to opp out all cookies and trackers and personalized ads... If we accept that it is done in NO time.. but if we turn it off.. we have to wait like.. 30 sec.........

[@formerdumbkid]

ok but cookies are actually something that affects it, and theres no reason to opt out of cookies just clear them later

[@jedigrandmaster6471]

@@formerdumbkid that really depends on the service

[@zowlz4433]

Oh so internet explorer is slow just for the meme, yeah it has to be I mean no browser can be that slow lol

[@Yorick257]

@@diamondwave100 but...it is. Sometimes, when nothing else works, I try IE as a last resort and sometimes it even helps!

[@ThePC007]

Windows takes 10 minutes to boot for me, while Linux boots in 10 seconds. Sometimes I really wonder if MS just added a long artificial timer to their OS just for the lolz.

[@theairaccumulator7144]

@@ThePC007 lol Windows is full of shit old legacy code that is REALLY slow. Like some code from the Windows 3.0 era is still around in the NT kernel today. While Linux was designed for performance, unlike Windows.

[@mrmaniac3]

@@theairaccumulator7144 calm down buddy it doesn't take that long

[@pia_mater]

I only use Internet Explorer cause its faster on my laptop 😂

[@SuperPlayz]

When computers work too well.

[@jeromeorji1057]

It's more like humans projecting how inefficient and slow the average human is on something that is entirely not human. We're anthropomorphizing machines due to a mix of our own ego and ignorance.

[@mrmaniac3]

@Богдан Кондратов depending on the device, I could be carrying a nice moderately fast, relatively recent device that I still have to worry about battery maintenance and such, or I could be carrying a slab of 1280x800 pixel meat that's bogged down with vanilla Android 5.1.1, with dying ports, storage and battery. There's give and take.

[@JasmineJu]

Animations are also artificial wait times. In Android you can turn them off by enabling developer option by rapidly tapping build number in settings.

[@Nuibuddy]

中原マリ that was my favorite feature when i had an Android

[@Avi2Nyan]

Where can you find that in the developer options?

[@MidnightBloomDev]

Actually they aren't. If you remove them completely you will still have to wait a bit.

[@davidhildebrandt7812]

I think those are acceptable, they are quite short and make it visually more pleasing

[@amnottabs]

@@Avi2Nyan I think they are called transition animation scale (usually those that says 1x, there are like 4 of them in succession)

[@mukamuka0]

Not just software, I experienced this in real world. Last year I'm going into 3rd party repair shop to replace my Samsung note 9 battery. The staff told me it'll take 30 min so I'm head out to waiting at cafe near by. 5 min later I realized that I urgently need some data in my phone, So I'm back at shop hope that they still didn't work on my phone yet. However, everything is finished, pack and clean. So I'm ask them. They told me that pro-staff only need 1-2 min to do the job but if it's too quick customer will think that the shop do a bad job.

[@anakinskymonke3670]

Now that I know this information. I wish they had an option to remove this Artificial wait. But I wonder if Minecraft's loading screen is an Artificial Wait or it's really just loading chunks.

[@SnoFitzroy]

Minecraft on PC is coded in Java. trust me, that loading is real.

[@starbournehero771]

Some people do have fun with the text that pops up while the actual stuff is happening, other times I’ve seen the blistering fast changing of words at it tries to show EVERY single thing as it loads, which is almost as fun XD

[@5tr4nge75]

@@SnoFitzroy honestly the fact Minecraft even runs on the spaghetti code it does, amazes me. I showed my Java literate friend the minecraft code, he says he still has literal nightmares about working on it. There are "bugs" that have become features, because removing them completely crashes the game.

[@mr.normalguy69]

I don't like waiting, not for my food, not for my internet. If my food and internet has the same quality regardless of time, please do me a favor cutting the waiting BS.

[@rubenoh07]

I love your channel, since I discovered it you have shown me the answer to questions that were in the back of my head but I did not know how to formulate. You do a lot of research about the topic and it shows, reality it's never black and white.

[@JimJimJimJim]

I was surprised, back in the 1980s, to find that two of the guys working for me had previously been paid to write slowing code. One had worked on a major accounting system. When paid upgrades of the system were offered, they always included 'now runs even faster'. The other had worked on printer firmware. Higher pricepoint models just changed the delay. Lower pricepoint models also had some features turned off. All models used essentially the same hardware and code (with perhaps case changes).

[@SnoFitzroy]

@@marlinlenchanteur4260 exactly, like you're not even actually upgrading your car, you're just giving Mr Musk more of your precious, precious coins to toggle "CanDriveAsAI" from "false" to "true".

[@dbclass4075]

@@marlinlenchanteur4260 The faster option is legitimate: even minor coding can make huge difference on how the motor behaves. It is similar to re-mapping the ECU in ICE cars, and you still pay for the services. Tesla vehicles just increased the integration of propulsion and computer, removing the need of using specialized equipment. Although, the automation option is indeed stupid; no different from luxury German and English manufacturers (in terms of marketing options, I mean).

[@charlieangkor8649]

I feel contempt.

[@taufanadikurniawan7170]

There's three thing you need to pay attention about technology 1. Software 2. Hardware 3. User/human And they said human is the most resistance to change, and this video explain a lot

[@angolin9352]

​@@capturedflame I call this the smartphone-ization of technology. Tech illiteracy has skyrocketed as people have forgotten how to do many basic tasks because these tasks either aren't necessary or are extremely difficult to do on smartphones. Now, because the smartphone industry has been so lucrative, these design trends have echoed back into the PC space, and Windows 10 and many commercial programs are an utter nightmare to use for anything except the most basic tasks and configuration. TL;DR switch to Linux and use free software.

[@Alex632]

We had an artificial wait program, if i remember correctly it was to ensure customers that something was being accomplished or trusted.

[@logicalfundy]

Yup, that's basically the gist of this video. People trust it more if they feel like it "put in some effort," even though realistically most things can be done very fast.

[@Akoalawithshades]

I get that. It's like play a card game against the computer but the computer doesn't have an animation. It's like you blinked and you have to play a game of spot the difference after a second of realising the computer is instant. A few seconds of loading animation is a nice way ease someone to the next stage of something.

[@tgustafson85]

This makes my spline reticulate.

[@uhohhotdog]

RETICULATING SPLINES

[@Preinstallable]

Evacuate the spine

[@MikeWillSee]

This is the computer equivalent of saying uhhhhh even though you know the answer perfectly well and are just stalling for time

[@jana31415]

Now that everyone knows it, can the companys just stop please?

[@Gloomy0Folken]

The worst one of these animations is when you enable power saving mode on Samsung phones. I HAVE 5% OF MY BATTERY LEFT, THERE IS NO TIME FOR YOUR "LABOR ILLUSION" GODDAMNIT

[@debasishraychawdhuri]

Basically, users cannot fathom how fast computers are. My mom now started adding artificial wait time in food preparation to make me value the food more.

[@umangmalik]

Cheddar: it's like Vox, but more capitalist

[@melody_florum]

I spent forever on a loading screen for a project so I intentionally made it take too long to load because it looked cool

[@TehBurek]

Reminds me also of Windows' green progress bar that appears in the address bar of File Explorer while it's working to index the folder content, display thumbnails and such. Typically, there are two types of progress bars in software, "finite" and "infinite". Second one is where the program doesn't actually know how far along the action is so it can't meaningfully display any percentage indication, it only knows that the action is still being worked on, and it will know that it's done when it's done. On Windows it used to be displayed with that "sliding" bar that just loops over and over along the progress bar space. That wasn't really reassuring, so in File Explorer, even in those situations, the progress bar will appear as finite, it will start to fill up, but get slower and slower, hoping the action will complete in a reasonable amount of time, and then it will just jump to 100% when it finds out it is done. You can tell because it always moving at the same speed, no matter the folder size or computer speed, until it just jumps to the end. That one's also lying to you, trying to assure you that the action is "just about" to be completed, even if the application doesn't really know that. In some edge cases, even after slowing down, it can still actually very slowly reach the end and then it will just stay there indefinitely, breaking the illusion.

[@DarkBraveStuff]

4:17 Why is he coding HTML, that's not used for writing algorithmic code.

[@teren60]

during my days as a programing student.. loading bars was just there for estetics.. it is not really neccessary.. but it feels right to have a loading bar.. but there are process that requires loading bar due to ram and video processing..

[@filip9587]

Huh, so it's not my data that's slow, it's the website!🤔

[@iandugger1168]

Filip Nicola nope, it’s your data.

[@filip9587]

@@iandugger1168 r/woooosh

[@emilieh4180]

Filip Nicola Wow a reddit user. no way!

[@iandugger1168]

@@filip9587 I was the one joking, idiot. Get your ass off of your seat and find out that you're the slow one.

[@estherdebester]

Filip Nicola haha you totally have reddit

[@Anton-cv2ti]

Some of the first code I wrote as a kid was 30% unnecessary user prompts, 50% artificial waiting and 20% usable code. My programs were much cooler than anybody else's 🙃

[@Minitomate]

The loading bars are fine, but I always wondered why the ads load much faster than the video itself here in KZbin.

[@hereticpariah6_66]

I am Not kidding. This video loaded _incredibly_ slowly. Spinning circle of death going a good 45 seconds, already... Edit: gave up after another minute and restarted. (sarcastically) _Ads loaded Just Fine, though!!_

[@S2Tubes]

Working as intended.

[@fen0221]

And now make a video to find out why developers make apps that intensionally crash

[@SnoFitzroy]

While I can't answer this outside of games, often a developer might do this to "scare" the user - that is, making them believe, even for a microsecond of lapsed judgement, that the app or game is "thinking" in a human capacity. For example, Undertale crshes itself when you beat a Genocide run, because the implication is that the villain has murdered the player.

[@angelomallorca9149]

App: Please wait . . . Me: Waiting App: Loading Complete :) Me: :) App: *Crashes* Me: :/ . . .

[@ninjanerdstudent6937]

One wait time reduction I’m happy about is airport check-in and security. I just walkthrough the security like the old days (before 9/11). It feels good because security is entirely theatrics.

[@shabazahmed]

This is where "ok boomer" actually belongs

[@clairej]

If a site doesn’t load immediately I leave to find a faster one🤭

[@lighthousepicnic]

Some ticketing apps add a delay to "validate" the ticket, for example public transport apps, so you can't buy one on the spot when an official comes to check if you've paid your fare.

[@keco185]

There are many other reasons for waits. Sometimes it’s to give the user time to click the back button for an accidental click so the server doesn’t need to waste time calculating a result that’s unwanted. Another reason is to make a DoS attack harder to accomplish by only letting the user make the server run a task every so often.

[@Qtopian]

Yea no. I feel like it may work for older generations but younger wants fast. If i have to wait for something on the internet i dont trust it or dont have time for it. Everyone now knows computers are super fast so there shouldn’t be a long wait time for something. Attention spans are getting shorter, and we can tel that when they do a long wait time its fake

[@Qtopian]

Plus most scam websites have those long wait times so we now associate long wait times with scams

[@wariolandgoldpiramid]

I'm not sure. If something happens instantly, I might instead assume that the program didn't actually do anything, and lied with the result.

[@Psy500]

​@@wariolandgoldpiramid Yet if takes long enough for the user to look up its task in a task manager then they could think the program has crashed, wonder why it says it doing all this work while not requesting any significant CPU time from the OS.

[@wariolandgoldpiramid]

@@Psy500 Well, I just expect programs to have at least a small load time. Or, at the very least, loading a new web page to give result

[@neoxenoz3262]

So whenever chrome does the "not responding" thing, it was artificial.

[@dtrns9]

no that is mostly legitimate.

[@angolin9352]

No, that usually means that a codepath is taking way longer than sensible to run.

[@chrisklugh]

I know some software companies that will claim they are searching for virus will 'find some' so that you will purchase their software. Years ago I tested this with a brand new computer. The scan said I had a dirty computer! lol

[@anubis520]

As a self proclaimed/ small time developer, I will say that I did notice this in FPS. I always wondered why respawn timers exist and if they could be removed all together. it turns out that an instant respawn is confusing and takes away from the game. respawn is a punishment for getting killed but it is also a way to say, that was the end of that and reset for the next one.

[@MrRidocks]

Damm learned something interesting

[@Living1980s]

01:52 Steven Hoober looks and sounds like Kane (Glen Jacobs)

[@moversti92]

You just need a bigger and slower system to avoid artificial wait times. Legacy code and communications between different datacenters are a plus.

[@bledlbledlbledl]

This reminds me of a market experiment some vacuum cleaner company did decades ago. They test-marketed a vac that had just as much suction as other vacs, but was much quieter. It didn't go over well, because people EXPECTED lots of noise; and when they didn't hear it, they got the impression that the vac "just wasn't doing its job" even though it was picking up dirt just as well as any much louder vacuum cleaner

[@MrVanillaCaramel]

This isn't about computers, this is about us!

[@SanJose408Alex]

before watching this, have any of you realized this on your own? i've seen countless of these fake loading bars and i've always felt insulted that they think they could fool me into thinking their search times arent instantaneous.

[@SanJose408Alex]

Deadpoppin never said I was special, I was trying to see how many other non-gullible people were out there 🙂

[@brandonburt128]

The ones that I find really irritating are the peoplesearch ones. I'm waiting for a phone number that will probably never appear, and the only way to find out for sure is to wait through a series of 40-second modal dialogs that read, "Correlating driving records" "Checking sex offender registry," etc. Dude is hanging a screen door, I don't care about his life story.

[@SanJose408Alex]

Brandon Burt that’s the one that bothers me the most lmao

[@BrokebackBob]

As a tech savvy 32 year IT professional, I HATE THIS WITH EVERY ATOM OF MY BODY.

[@dylan-nguyen]

not to mention the stats boost of user interaction time. and the time the user stays on the app or site and doesn't leave. possibly clicking on some ads in the mean time.

[@nik_evdokimov]

Now I understand why my Pentium II PC loads Windows XP so slowly Oh, wait a minute...

[@ThePC007]

Windows 10 takes 10 minutes to boot on my PC, while Linux takes only 10 seconds. Guess which one I trust more. :)

[@dieselgeezer18]

@@ThePC007 windows 10 is ugly and slow windows 7 was the best

[@FinancialShinanigan]

Humans are so weird.

[@warbleshnarf682]

I got a Turbotax ad at the start of the video... What wonderful marketing

[@leiffitzsimmonsfrey1272]

Did this for the first time today on an introductory programming course. It was a simple Double Or Nothing game, and as such had to generate a random number. This is a trivial task -- but the game somehow felt hollow, so I added a small delay when you place your bet but before it told you whether you won, and it became much more engaging.

[@isamiwind438]

imo it's kinda different tho and for different purposes. In the video the purpose was to create trust. Here this simply adds more emotion to the game like "am I gonna lose or nah?"

[@leiffitzsimmonsfrey1272]

@@isamiwind438 True -- but I think the underlying principle is mostly the sane.

[@lloyd26]

There is only one thing that I hate loading and waiting: Windows Updates

[@CognitiveHeatsink]

So I have to stare at annoying progress bars because of idiots who don't understand that computers process data faster than you can blink your eye?

[@OpEditorial]

With social media companies it makes sense, the illusion of "please wait" and "we're working on it" when it comes to privacy settings is important when such features are literally *placebos* for users too apathetic to dig much deeper, they don't actually do anything, even with the load screen. But to break it down, you're never actually "logged out" you have no real ownership of your personal information, photos, videos, or data, everything you've ever "liked" subscribed to, searched for, said out loud in the vicinity of a mobile device and even clicked on by accident is collected and stored somewhere, the only way to not paint a truly embarrassing picture of one's life is to never pick up the brush.

[@yassag]

Waiting duration and animations might be something way back in the time because people were not familiar with the potential of the computers. But now, load bars or simulating circles just tell people that "software did/is doing something and the results are not just a bug". Duration must just be enough long so people can comprehend it and must not be more than 2-3 seconds. I think.

[@christianmoore7109]

Was this really a surprise to anyone? I've known about these for years, and they're pretty obvious when they pop up.

[@tompeled6193]

Yes

[@disrupt_-4054]

Huh, never knew that 🤔

[@ReshiLuna]

Good point, because games save so quick nowadays, I find myself saving multiple times, because I don't trust that it saved properly.

[@Whatsayoutuber]

honestly I appreciate artificial wait times when I’m purchasing things online because it helps me feel more thoughtful and sure about my purchase. And if I have second thoughts, it gives me more time to decide to cancel the checkout process

[@xcyvc]

„why some apps are intentionally slow“ - iTunes for Windows - Apple wants you to get a Mac for a better experience with their software than with Windows. That’s why iTunes sucks on Windows and works (worked) perfectly on macOS.

[@ChristopherNFP]

a deception is still a deception. Fraud on the user.

[@Alex632]

Fraud is a bit of a reach.

[@diablo.the.cheater]

is ethical, i added one of this yesterday so the end user experience feels more satisfying, fight me

[@ChristopherNFP]

@@diablo.the.cheater I am an an end user. It does not add to my experience. In fact it has the opposite effect of generating distrust.

[@ChristopherNFP]

@@diablo.the.cheater if it is ethical, why not put a message on the screen for 10 seconds "This is artificial and unnecessary wait designed to enhance your user experience. You are welcome. " or place an ad elsewhere on the screen.

[@ChristopherNFP]

@@Alex632 was referring to TurboTax software claims that it is the most efficient and quickest way to complete the task and that user will never have to waste time again previously done with manual tax returns. still wasting time. . just paying the company for the privilege .

[@Shahrdad]

This reminds me of two things: How car salesmen say, "I have to go and talk to my manager," and leave you sitting there for 20 minutes. You know they have the answer right away, but want to make it seem like they're really deliberating over the numbers. The other thing is car gas tanks. Back in the 1960s (I think) they made gas gauges that were very accurate and showed the exact level of gas in the tank. This meant that one saw the needle moving down right away after driving away from the pump. This had car owners upset, because they thought the car was using too much fuel. So they changed the gas gauges so that for the first few gallons used, the needle stays on full, and the owners think that they're getting better mileage. It's funny how we actually like getting fooled.

[@Megaserl]

The power saving on samsung phones is also a good example for this. Where with previous device it was just on or off, there is now full screen progress displayed.

[@jojieriveral5035]

they purposely slowing their service so people will have to stay in their apps more longer and thats important for advertisers

[@Bryzental]

But what about the "fake" sites that make things artificially slow so you think it is actually doing something and trust them? There is no stopping bad actors from doing the same and us trusting them

[@andreamazzi4382]

I'm a developer and I often include artificial waits for giving feedback to the user. An example: You click log out on an app, and the app shows a spinning icon for 0.5/1 seconds then logs you out. You get that the action you requested was performed correctly without errors. Now picture the same scenario but as soon as you touch the button the app shows you the login screen. You think "did it really log me out? Have I done something wrong?" That 0.5s doesn't make the difference for you. Sometimes a fast loading bar is even satisfying. Of course I don't insert 5+ seconds wait times because that's annoying.

[@thirdjaruda4202]

during my freshmen days in software engineering, we are tasked to build a program for a project and each of us added fake loading screens and animations for a few sec because we thought it looks cool and "professional", and our prof scolded us because he said delays have negative impact in the user experience. and I agree as to now. I just find it amusing that the wait is really part of the user experience.