Picture a message that reads as an insult. In less than a second the face is hot and the thumbs are on the keys. The feeling came by itself. What happens next depends on the gap of time between the feeling and the act. This is not chapter 2's gap, which was a distance; this one is time.
A reactiona quarter second
++
A feelingunder a second
++
Working it outseconds to minutes
The body answers a signal in about a quarter of a second. A feeling about a message is fast too, far faster than thinking anything through. Working something out is slow: it takes seconds, often minutes. So in a very short gap the only thing that has arrived is the feeling. Thought has not had time to get there.
The feelingunder a second
vsvs
Thoughtseconds to minutes
A person reads the message and replies in two seconds. What has had time to arrive before the reply?
Nothing. Two seconds is too short to feel anything.
Not yet. A feeling arrives in under a second. Two seconds is plenty for it, and that is the problem.
The feeling and a thought about it.
Not yet. Thinking something through takes longer than two seconds. The reply may look like a thought, but the time says it was the feeling with words on.
The feeling, and nothing else.
Right. Two seconds is enough for a feeling and not for working anything out. The reply is the feeling, typed.
See it→Feel it→One tap→Sent
Whether or not anyone meant it, a feed has the shortest gap of time there is. The reply box is under the post. The share button is one tap. Every control sits at the end of a gap too short for thought, so what travels is the feeling, and a feeling that acts at once keeps a feed moving.
Share, unread
↓→
Read it first?
↓→
Opened 40% more often
In 2020 Twitter tested a change. When someone went to share an article they had not opened, a message asked whether they wanted to read it first. Nobody was stopped; a gap was added. Twitter said people opened articles 40% more often after seeing it, and some, having read, did not share at all.
Picture the gap between a feeling and an act, and move its length. Watch what has arrived by the time the act happens. Made up to show the shape.
The feeling10 made up
Thought0 made up
Length of the gap: 1 second
One second: the feeling is at full strength and thought has not arrived. The act is the feeling.
The feeling9 made up
Thought3 made up
Length of the gap: 10 seconds
Ten seconds: the feeling has barely cooled; a little thought has arrived.
The feeling7 made up
Thought7 made up
Length of the gap: 1 minute
A minute: the feeling has cooled some.
The feeling2 made up
Thought10 made up
Length of the gap: A day
A day: the feeling is a memory and thought has all of it. Whatever happens now is a decision.
At what length of gap do the feeling and thought weigh the same?
They never do. Feelings are always stronger.
Not yet. By a day the frames show thought at ten and the feeling at two. Time is the thing that turns the ratio.
About a minute.
Right. By a minute the feeling has cooled a little and thought has caught up. Under that, the feeling acts alone.
One second.
Not yet. At one second thought has not arrived at all. The frames show ten against nothing.
Move the control.
No gapthe feeling shares
vsvs
A momentthought arrives for some
The Twitter test shows the mechanism in the open. Nothing was banned and nobody was told what to think. A moment was placed between the feeling and the share, and in that moment thought got to arrive for some people. The pause added only time. With time, some people read first, and fewer shared.
Put in order what happens when the gap is long enough.
Tap them in the order they happen, first to last. Each tap gets a number.
Post→Feeling→Time→Thought→Act
Right. Post, feeling, time, thought, act. Take out the time and thought never arrives, and that is the shape of a feed.
A message to the class
↓→
Five minutescan be cancelled
↓→
Sent
A school's email system adds a delay. A message to a whole class waits five minutes before sending, and can be cancelled. Using this lesson, what has the delay done?
Widened the gap of time, so thought can arrive before the act is final.
Right. Five minutes is well past the point where feeling and thought weigh the same. Nothing is forbidden; time is added.
Censored the teachers.
Not yet. Nothing is blocked and nobody reads the messages. A gap is time, not a rule, and the sender can still send.
Nothing. People will send the same message five minutes later.
Not yet. Some will, and the lesson expects that. Twitter's prompt moved opens by 40% with a moment; a gap moves some acts, not all, and that is the whole effect.
Lesson complete
A feeling arrives in under a second and thought takes longer; the gap between them decides which one acts.