Disney, Uber, and YouTube Are All Running the Same Trick a Building Manager Invented by Accident

Disney, Uber, and YouTube Are All Running the Same Trick a Building Manager Invented by Accident In the 1990s, a building manager was drowning in tenant complaints about slow elevators. The real fix would require new motors, full overhaul and that was too expensive. So he stopped trying to solve the problem and started asking a different question entirely: how do I make people stop caring? He installed mirrors. A few hundred dollars. The complaints disappeared almost overnight. The elevators were still slow. The wait was identical. But the human brain, when given something to look at — especially itself — loses all track of time. He didn’t fix the problem. He dissolved the experience of it. And once you see the trick, you see it everywhere. Disney fills every queue with distractions. Uber shows you a moving car before any driver has accepted your trip. YouTube autoplays the next video before you decide you want it. They’re not improving the product. They’re engineering your perception of it. 💬 Now that you know — where else have you spotted this being used on you?