Name: 6 Buttons That Actually Do Nothing
Uploaded: 2020-03-18T08:00:54.000Z
Duration: 8 min 49 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

So, you tap a button and something happens — that’s how the world works, right?

Adverbs of manner

The world is actually filled with buttons that are only there to seem like they do something,

And not only buttons — there are all kinds of things that are there for no apparent reason.

Pedestrian crossing buttons If you live in a big city, you’ve probably

seen these buttons placed right beneath a huge sign saying “Press the button and wait

for green light” or something like that.

I don’t know about you, but I always diligently press it, although it doesn’t always work

The thing is, transport authorities sometimes switch off the functionality of these traffic

In New York, for example, there are 1,000 of them, but currently only 100 actually work

All the rest are no more than a decoration.

They’re often called placebo buttons because all they do is create an illusion of control:

you press a button and you expect that something will happen, while not knowing that the process

Such buttons have an important psychological effect: doing something feels better than

When you press the button at a crossing, you feel more assured that the light will eventually

In any case, some of these buttons do work, and no one will tell you exactly which ones

don’t, so not to feel stupid just standing there and waiting, better press the button

Why they turned them off in the first place, though?

Because the traffic lights system turned out to be much more complex, especially in big

If you drive, you could notice that sometimes you get in a “green wave,” when every

It happens when you adhere to the speed limit and there are no obstacles on your way (like

But if there’s a traffic light with a working crossing button, it can turn red at any moment,

So, not to disrupt the work of the whole network, many of the traffic control switches were

Elevator door close buttons If you live on, say, 15th floor and you’re

in a hurry to get home because your bladder is about to burst, for example, you’ll probably

But if you decide to wait for the elevator instead, you’ll smash that door close button

Sorry to disappoint: not all close buttons are equally effective.

In the US, these buttons don’t work at all.

The elevator doors will stay open for no less than the time appointed to them, no matter

how much or how long you mash that button.

The roots of this lie in the legislation, in fact: the 1990 Americans with Disabilities

Act stated that elevator doors should remain open long enough for anyone with any movement

impairment, be it a wheelchair or crutches, to get inside without trouble.

So unless you’re an emergency service worker or just happen to know the override code,

you won’t be able to make the doors close faster.

Maybe it’s best to take those stairs, after all.

If you live outside the US, though, your chances of getting a working close button are much

In many countries, there are no such strict regulations, so you can easily find an elevator

where, if you press the door close button, the doors will actually shut immediately.

As an added bonus, if you press the door open button right after that, they’ll stop midway

Thermostat control in hotels and offices Most white collars will agree with me: having

a thermostat in the office is a necessity, not a luxury.

And sometimes there are veritable battles going on between those who like to keep it

cool and those who would rather sweat than shiver.

But the truth is much more… sly, I think is the word.

You see, most office buildings have a central heating, ventilation, and air conditioning

And the thing about this central system is that you can’t actually affect it from anywhere

In fact, there are two general types of office thermostats: one that is total placebo and

The total placebo type speaks for itself: whatever it shows on that little digital screen

You can press the buttons all you like, and the numbers will change, but the temperature

The partial placebo thermostat has a little bit of sway: it can change a couple degrees

in both directions, but no more than that.

So if you press the button to decrease the temperature from 72°F and it goes all the

way down to 60°F, rest assured that in reality it stops at somewhere about 70°F. You will

hear the vents whirr, though, and the machinery will seemingly come to motion.

That and a slight drop in temperature create the feeling that you’re really in control.

The placebo effect is in that you believe something’s changed, and your body reacts

Same goes for many hotels too: if your room is equipped with a thermostat, you can be

sure it only creates a semblance of activity, while keeping the room temperature the same

Progress bars Whenever you download a file from the Internet

or install a new app on your device, you see a bar that informs you of how much time you

Ever seen it stuck at 99% for, like, forever, though?

Yeah, it’s exactly what it seems: the progress bar is always wildly inaccurate.

One of its creators, Brad A. Myers, said that the purpose of the bar was never to show the

Subtitles ListPlay Video

6 Buttons That Actually Do Nothing

illusion

progress

average

expect