Why I hate slow things - mike's web log/comments

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December 12, 2006 | Why I hate slow things | 4947 hit(s)

I am easily frustrated by things that go slow, like many (most) people are, I suppose. Everyone hates a slow computer, of course, but I hate ATM machines and the card-swiper thing at the supermarket. I don't like those U-Scan things ath Home Depot or IKEA, because they're so fussy about the way you swipe stuff that you have to repeat yourself all the time. I hate slow drivers. I don't like watching people over their shoulder while they work on a computer, because inevitably they work slowly.[1] (Probably they use the stupid mouse instead of being on intimate terms with keyboard shortcuts.[2]) There's even a gas station I avoid, in spite of their excellent prices, because the user interface on their frickin'-frackin' pumps is just so-o-o slo-o-o-o-ow.

But sometimes I'm slow myself, of course. In those cases, slow is good! It's proper and correct. Those other people rushing this thing? They should slow down, dammit, they're going too fast.

So. Over at the creating passionate users blog, they've been having a discussion about rhythm, about how rhythm is at the root of everything we do. There's interesting stuff there, but this cite caught my eye in particular:

While latency in responding to a user input is bad manners, creating an unpredictable delay that breaks the perception of rhythm is even worse.

[...] unpredictable delays in response only serve to make the entire experience awful. Passionately bad, in fact.

[F]or a system that requires moment-to-moment interaction, unpredictable response times are the antithesis of flow. Using such an irregularly reacting system takes up lots of cognitive attention just to recognize when the next event is going to happen. The user ends up having to be constantly vigilant to know when the next event’s going to happen. It’s ultimately tiring and a pain to use. Worse of all, the irregularly responding system is generating interruptions ... that’s the one thing we know we really shouldn’t be doing.

Aha. Slow or fast isn't inherently good or bad; what's important is the rhythm. A slow computer breaks your rhythm, so you have to think about your gestures instead of your work. Ditto watching someone else work. A slow ATM machine breaks your rhythm because you have to pay attention to whether you've entered things that are pretty important to get right. Slow drivers break the flow of traffic; as I suppose is pretty well known, one pokey driver going 10 below flow can cause quite a pileup behind them. And what's always nerve-wracking is not going fast, but driving among people who are going different speeds.

Similarly, when we're doing something slowly, methodically, having someone do it quickly breaks the rhythm of that experience. I can hardly watch shooter games, let alone play them, because everything is happening so fast. If you can play a piece of music, playing it really fast can be annoying, because you can't keep the right rhythm -- either you slow down erratically or you make mistakes.

This is quite an insight. (So I'm not so bright, sue me.) I'm going to have to monitor this while I experience frustrations or moments of "slow the hell down!". I doubt that it will make me love slow interfaces any better, but it will give me something to think about while I punch at. the. stupid. keys. to enter my PIN or something.

[1] "The most difficult thing in the world is to know how to do a thing and to watch somebody else doing it wrong, without comment." -- T.H. White

[2] That said, I have worked with some people who are so fast (often in their favorite text editor) that it, like, gives me the vapors.

operanerd 12 Dec 06 - 10:04 PM

hmmmm, Em says you're OCD.

mike 12 Dec 06 - 10:08 PM

Not ADD?

Anonymous 12 Dec 06 - 11:57 PM

no,
needing the same rhythm. same speed. control of environment. A little ADD might, um, add some appreciation of our multi-rhythmic world
:-)

Megan 13 Dec 06 - 7:03 AM

It was like reading a description of my day. I, too, hate slow things, but I also use an application that suffers from an acute lack of rhythm. It's maddening, but it's also nice to have an explanation for why it makes me so angry.

Pete 13 Dec 06 - 3:29 PM

Wow, this is an interesting perspective on speed vs. consistency. Of course, I've known rhythm was magical for a long time (yeah, I'm a drummer first, computer geek second), but this is an interesting twist on why I'm bothered by these timing irregularities too. What’s curious to me is why faster seems to be the default for better. I think the world could be a smidge better if we all lived at a slightly slower tempo (island time?)– maybe those moments at the ATM machine are an opportunity to catch our breath…

Oh, and on your music analogy – I’ve witnessed that musicians will struggle to play a piece either unnaturally slow OR unnaturally fast (which nicely supports this pace-based theory).

I think the nut in all of this is that as soon as something doesn’t fit our own mental “groove” it’s annoying – fast, slow, or otherwise. For me this makes a lot of sense since I've know for years that there’s no place I’m happier than in the groove…

Grayson 14 Dec 06 - 6:24 PM

The whole idea of rhythm is also in our conversations. You might know about micromotions, little physical twitches, nods, and movements we make when talking with someone. In fact, usually in about three minutes, our micromotions become entrained with the person we are talking to. In effect, we are each mirroring the motions of the other in a strange, extremely subtle dance as we talk. We think all that talking is just words. Little do we know we are also moving with each word we utter and with each word we hear.

mike 14 Dec 06 - 6:26 PM

So what happens when the conversants can't see one another, do you suppose? Like in a phone conversation or something.