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https://www.fastcodesign.com/3061519/evidence/the-ux-secret-that-will-ruin-apps-for-you
companies introduce what Kowitz calls an "artificial waiting" pattern into their interfaces. These are status bars, maybe a few update messages, to construct a facade of slow, hard, thoughtful work, even though the computer is done calculating your query.
[...] "My guys built this tool—it took single digit milliseconds to get the results back. And it was giving [accurate] results, not just some plan we wanted to sell them," Hoober says. "But when we tested with people, they assumed it was all marketing bullshit because it was instantaneous. They'd say, 'This was obviously a canned result, I'm just gonna shop myself.'"
"Coinstar is a great example of this. The machine is able to calculate the total change deposited almost instantly. Yet, during testing the company learned that consumers did not trust the machines. Customers though it was impossible for a machine to count change accurately at such a high rate. Faced with the issues of trust and preconceived expectations of necessary effort, the company began to rework the user experience. The solution was fairly simple. The machine still counted at the same pace but displayed the results at a significantly slower rate. In fact, the sound of change working the way through the machine is just a recording that is played through a speaker. Altering the user experience to match expectations created trust and met the customers expectation of the necessary effort to complete the task."
Not long ago I removed a delay in some old software that didn't seem to do anything (it still works and works faster). Perhaps I should add the delay back...
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Saturday September 03 2016, @02:26AM
In the mid-90s I worked for Qualcomm. We discovered a big problem was complete silence when nobody was talking, people assumed the call had dropped and hung up. We had to add noise so people didn't hang up and dial again when the other party was thinking.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 03 2016, @02:45AM
That happens to me all the time now. I wish it would inject low-level background noise while I was talking so I would know the other party was still connected. It totally throws me off my game because of that 1 in 100 time when they actually do get disconnected and I keep on talking for 30+ seconds and they aren't there to hear my brilliance. Makes me deeply insecure everytime I hear dead air.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 03 2016, @02:46AM
If phones could reliably play a distinct sound when the call drops then people wouldn't assume that. But what should phones do during flaky connections?
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 03 2016, @02:49AM
What's that, sonny? You didn't learn anything from history?
During the 1960s, in-band signaling was used, so the same line for both voice conversations and telephone connection management signals. Since a pause in a voice conversation would produce silence, another method was required for switches to determine available circuits. The solution AT&T created was to produce a 2600 Hz tone on idling trunks.
Damn kids have to reinvent line noise because they think old lessons don't apply to their revolutionary new phones. Get off my lawn, you youngster!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 03 2016, @03:52AM
1) A 2600 Hz tone is not line noise
2) A pause on those old phones wouldn't actually produce silence, but the noise the OP mentioned.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 03 2016, @04:24AM
I see. So you stupid kids are utterly incapable of learning from history because similar concepts that aren't exactly the same are too fucking difficult for you to understand. No wonder Reddit has a whole section for you called explain-me-like-I'm-a-shit-eating-fucktard.
(Score: 2) by quietus on Sunday September 04 2016, @11:34AM