According To Tech Developers, Computer Loading Bars Are Almost All Fake
Is your whole life a lie?
If you have ever sat and stared at a loading bar on your phone or in the middle of a video game, you have likely been caught staring at what technology experts call a “benevolent deception.” In a series of studies and analyses that began in 2013, researchers have confirmed that users like seeing an elaborate loading bar appear on their screen rather than have information processed too quickly. In an interesting twist of expectations, when technology moves too quickly, people become suspicious. A loading screen with spinning wheels, creeping numbers, and growing bars eases the mind of the user more than something that processes in a mere instant.
A study conducted by two Harvard professors found that people preferred websites to take a measurable amount of time to load rather than completing a task instantly. They wrote:
When websites engage in operational transparency by signaling that they are exerting effort, people can actually prefer websites with longer waits to those that return instantaneous results. Even when those results are identical.
It is not just that loading screens have been designed to make you feel like your machine is working for you. The loading bars themselves have been programmed to…
