
Everyday ‘Placebo Buttons’ Create Semblance of Control - pttrsmrt
http://99percentinvisible.org/article/user-illusion-everyday-placebo-buttons-create-semblance-control/
======
kens
While placebo "walk" buttons in New York City are amusing, more malevolent was
that NYC had thousands of placebo fire hydrants. The city would ticket people
who parked in front of these unused fire hydrants even though they had been
disconnected decades earlier.

Link: [http://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/23/nyregion/soapbox-a-
little-...](http://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/23/nyregion/soapbox-a-little-
secret-about-fire-hydrants.html)

~~~
parent5446
Maybe I'm alone, but I feel like this makes sense. It would be difficult, and
take more effort than its worth, to have to decide which hydrants are legal to
park in front of, somehow designate them so drivers know they're inactive when
looking for parking spots, and instruct police and parking enforcers on which
hydrants they're allowed to ticket for.

~~~
BurningFrog
The Fire Department already has to keep track of which hydrants are
operational.

If marking them would generate any revenue it would be done very quickly. As
it is _not_ marking them generates tons of parking ticket revenue, so that's
what's done.

~~~
parent5446
That's pretty much exactly what I said, except with a half-baked political
opinion weaved in.

------
Animats
Elevator open/close buttons are enabled when you put the elevator in "service
elevator" mode. There's usually a key switch for that. This is for freight;
it's not a maintenance function. In "service" mode, the doors won't close
unless you press the door close button, so you can move things in and out
without interference from the door. With some service elevators, pressing a
hall call button when the doors are open rings a bell to tell you to stop
hogging the elevator.

Other key switches may include "independent operation" (decouples that
elevator from the group controller) and "attended" (enables buttons Up, Down,
and Non-Stop).

When moving in or out of a multi-elevator building, ask to borrow the service
elevator key. That's what it's for.

------
ChuckMcM
I love the street art, but believe the article is fundamentally flawed. It
picks three examples of placebo controls, crosswalk buttons, elevator door
closing, and office thermostats. Let's go through those

Crosswalk buttons - When traffic through an intersection (both pedestrian and
vehicle) merits "knowing" when pedestrians want to cross, the buttons are
considered. When such information will not change the flow, they are not. At
some point in time if the cycle of walk/dont walk red/yellow/green will not
differ based on button input, you can stop considering the button input.
However, we get into situations in the Bay Area where the button _is_
important and people who don't push it never see a walk sign. So sometimes
they work, sometimes they don't.

Elevator buttons have a similar issues. There are regulations about how
quickly after the doors open that the doors can close, and there are
mechanisms that control the speed of closure (also regulated for safety
reasons). Few people feel consider the door open button is a placebo because
they can see, "Yup the doors are still open" but they feel that close _is_ a
placebo because the doors don't immediately start to close when it is pushed.

And office thermostats. Having been responsible for a company move, and
consequently dealing with the landlord of the old and new space. The HVAC
system was always divided into "zones". The thermostats were placed based on
some previous zone. So when you reconfigure the space, new thermostats get
added (if necessary) but old ones don't get removed. The old ones are either
useful in the new configuration, or not useful now, but may be at a future
date. Since it was $300+ to add a thermostat into the space, the landlord kept
all thermostats that exist, so that future tenents might be able to use one
that wasn't needed before but is already installed, saving $300+ in tenant
improvement costs.

~~~
greggman
Yes, the myth of placebo buttons continues unabated. Maybe that's a NYC thing.
I know plenty of crosswalks in SF and LA areas where if you don't press the
button it will never say walk.

Also, here in Japan nearly all elevator close buttons work instantly

~~~
delinka
"Myth"? You have certainly not debunked ChuckMcM's detailed hypotheses about
the reasons a placebo device exists. San Francisco, Los Angeles and
(presumably all of) Japan are not indicative of much of the rest of the
planet. There's still Chicago, Berlin, England (encompassing London), Brazil,
Beijing...

~~~
TillE
> England (encompassing London)

Definitely not all of England. I was just in Greater Manchester, where the
press of a button would often instantly change the light.

~~~
Symbiote
Both cases exist in Britain.

Independent crossings use the button, but crossings that are part of a road
junction may ignore it.

------
kstenerud
There are few things more infuriating than a placebo button. They talk about
illusion of control, but it's actually just a cruel and borderline sadistic
demonstration of the control you don't have.

“Doing something is better than doing nothing, so people believe. And when you
go to press the button your attention is on the activity at hand. If I’m just
standing at the corner I may not even see the light change, or I might only
catch the last part of the change, in which case I could put myself in
danger.”

Probably the most condescending and patronizing statement I've heard in a long
time.

~~~
hinkley
Several of the crosswalk graffiti examples pictured in the article are
sociopolitical commentary on our illusions of control.

"Naturally, a number of street art projects have popped up around the humorous
futility of pedestrians pressing placebo buttons:"

I think the depths of the satire on these is lost on the author.

~~~
developer2
Then there are those who try to find deep meaning in something as innocuous as
a joke placed at a crosswalk signal. It's not "sociopathical". There is no
"depth" or "satire". It might be "art", but even that is debatable.

It's just citizens putting up something funny. Why is there a need to
attribute it to something more deeply rooted in the psyche?

~~~
hinkley
uh, socio-political.

I think a lot of these stickers are a form of graffiti with a political
agenda, of thinking for yourself and noticing you're losing your autonomy.
Some people scream it and throw things, others use satire to prod us into
action.

~~~
developer2
This is what I mean. You're reading _way_ too much into the situation. If I
were not such a lazy are artistically-challenged person, I would absolutely
set up such a display at a useless crossing signal. And it would have no
meaning whatsoever other than to make fun of the fact that the specific button
does nothing. Nearly equatable to being satire, but with less meaning than the
term "satire" generally refers to. It would be purely for the purpose of a fun
moment in my life, nothing more. No philosophical meaning about how "many
actions in life are fruitless", but rather "heh, this one button doesn't do
anything, time to have fun with it".

Our brains may be wired with complexities we don't understand, but I know the
difference between having a moment of enjoyment for myself, vs. doing
something with an ulterior motive of pretending to be a genius making
grandiose remarks about civilization as a whole.

More people need to remember what it's like to be an innocent child who, in
such a case, would instantly proclaim "a button that doesn't do anything...
whyyyy?", instead of going full-on adult with a cynical point of view. For
fuck's sake, stop overthinking every single moment in life. It's depressing.

------
mattnewport
I knew a gameplay programmer years ago who got frustrated with a particular
designer constantly requesting minor tweaks that required code changes. He
built a fancy control panel with a bunch of sliders and dials to adjust all
kinds of gameplay parameters and gave it to the designer who happily spent the
rest of the project making endless adjustments without bothering the
programmer in question.

Of course he never hooked up the controls to actually do anything and the
nicely balanced gameplay was entirely due to the decisions he hard coded.

~~~
cloudjacker
I like how all designers without fail put their meaningless design tickets as
CRITICAL, BLOCKER in the ticket tracking system

~~~
afarrell
I've never encountered that in any company I've worked for.

------
joshagogo
Makes me wonder what kind of placebo buttons will be put inside self-driving
cars. Maybe a "vroom" button to tell your self-driving uber to take the fast
route, or maybe even a "NY Cabbie" button to make it super aggressive in the
city, along with a few honks. Latest research shows that people think biggest
benefit of SD cars will be time to do other things ([http://unu.ai/self-
driving-cars/](http://unu.ai/self-driving-cars/)), but I bet one of those
other things might be to hit the placebo button....

~~~
zitterbewegung
Are there placebo buttons in regular cars? Why would self driving cars have
this as a feature? Especially whoever is paying for the car which would have
to pay money for this useless feature.

~~~
MichaelGG
The additional cost is negligible. Current cars don't need placebo buttons
because you can drive aggressively yourself.

Current cars do have placebos though. Some newer sports cars would play engine
sounds thru the speakers to make users feel more power.

~~~
HappyTypist
Also electric cars by law are required to play engine sounds because they're
so quiet otherwise

~~~
PhasmaFelis
_Outside_ the cabin, to protect pedestrians. That's not a placebo.

------
xg15
> _Feeling you have control over your world is a desirable state_

I wonder when exactly in business the "experience" of something became more
important than the actual thing - but this pattern seems to become
increasingly more common:

It's more important that customers feel valued than that they are actually
valued; it's more important that food looks fresh and tastes nutritious than
that it actually is; it's more important that a device has a high-quality
exterior than that it has high-quality specs; etc, etc.

I feel this kind of thinking is the source of many frustrations and even
health problems. I find it sad if it's now apparently so widespread that
papers take the assumption for granted.

~~~
meric
I think it's a cycle that will pass. E.g. Early Rome vs Late Rome vs Early
Islam.

------
jasoncchild
How silly! I love the tinfoil hat account of office thermostats. When you
retrofit a controls system, based on my experience, it's not uncommon to leave
existing fixtures and wiring in place...disconnected. It's not a conspiracy,
however it is often the case of people being cheap. It costs far more labor to
rip everything out in addition to installing new equipment. I've seen
things...awful things...that inform my opinion on the subject ;)

That said...road side pong!

------
galdosdi
First sentence is strange to me

> Late for work in Manhattan, you push the crosswalk button and curse silently
> at the slowness of the signal change.

In other parts of NYC maybe, but in most of Manhattan I can't imagine anyone
doing this more than a few times. They'd be more likely to just "jaywalk."
Signal phases are very short and "jaywalking" is so accepted and normal that
it seems odd here to have a word for it.

The real irony is that (so I was told) "jay walking" comes from an old
derogatory term, "jay" meaning someone from the country not familiar with the
city. But in Manhattan, it's the other way around -- the tourists are usually
the ones that scrupulously _don't_ jaywalk.

~~~
taneq
> "jay walking" comes from an old derogatory term, "jay"

Really? I always wondered where the term came from, the best explanation I
could think of is that the original offense was walking most of the way across
the street and then doubling back (so walking in a 'j' shape) which would
confuse traffic and lead to more collisions.

~~~
Normal_gaussian
Really.

To make it better the term really came into its own because the automobile
industry ran various PR campaigns using it in order to combat the many
campaign groups who were against bringing large numbers of vehicles to the
city.

Pretty standard smear campaign.

------
kylec
I always press the street crossing and elevator door close buttons, even
though I'm well aware that in many cases it won't work. Why? Sometimes it
actually does work, and the effort required is minimal. I don't do so because
the button has provided the illusory feeling of control.

~~~
tomjen3
In addition to that, there are cross roads in my city were if you don't press
them, the light will _never_ turn green. Instead the cars going in that
direction get a turn right arrow.

~~~
Coincoin
This is so common I don't understand how the article didn't even mention it.

------
foxylad
We have a placebo button on the last page of our online school interview
booking system.

The last page clearly states that their bookings are confirmed and have been
emailed to them, but during usability trials we found many people wanted
another button to confirm completion. So now we have a "Finished" button that
simply takes them back to our home page.

------
revelation
This article seems to suggest that it's all in good fun because "traffic flow
is now computer-controlled", the suggestion being that traffic is cars and
cars only.

In many many parts of NYC, pedestrian traffic dominates cars, yet signals and
streets continue to give preference to cars and other motorized vehicles. If
there is an overflowing sidewalk full of people waiting for a signal it's a
testament to the 1960s era thinking that permeates DOTs planning and
construction.

~~~
rhizome
_yet signals and streets continue to give preference to cars and other
motorized vehicles_

I don't know about NYC, but in SF this is not necessarily the case. Signal
timing can be optimized for pedestrian rates of speed, or bicycles. Planners
do think about this stuff.

------
jccalhoun
Most of these stories use large cities like NYC or London as an example. I
wonder though how common it is that the crosswalk buttons don't do anything in
the rest of the world or even other cities in the USA. I often wonder if
pressing the crosswalk button does anything when I wait for the crossing
light. Of course, if we knew which ones worked and which didn't then they
wouldn't be as effective.

~~~
TeMPOraL
Something like 6-7 years back from now, I was working as a guy who distributes
free newspapers on the street in Kraków, Poland, and my assigned street corner
was next to an intersection with those crosswalk buttons. I decided to check
out the story about placebo buttons then, so I took measurements how long it
takes for the pedestrian green to turn on depending on whether or not someone
pressed the button. It turned out that the button cut down the waiting time by
about 20 seconds, which was at most 50% reduction AFAIR.

So sometimes they _may_ work, but the change may be subtle enough to be easy
missed.

~~~
kwhitefoot
Was that at the town end of Starowislna near the old newspaper offices? I may
have passed you a few times; didn't accept the paper because I can't read
Polish.

~~~
TeMPOraL
It was on the other side of the Vistula river, near the Korona sports club, on
Kalwaryjska street.

------
ndespres
I'm so used to the NYC crosswalk buttons being useless, that when I visit
other cities I'll find myself waiting at a crosswalk for 2 or 3 cycles before
remembering that I won't ever get a "walk" sign without pressing that button.

On the other hand I ride the office elevator every day with people who slam on
the "close door" button multiple times despite that the door closes
automatically very quickly, as if slamming on the button will increase the
speed of the already-closing door.

~~~
Chattered
I see this frequently in Edinburgh. I join a group at the pelican crossing and
after waiting too long, realise that the button hasn't been pressed.

Many of our crossings do nothing if you don't press the button. And if the
light has been green for road traffic for a while, pressing the button
/immediately/ sets the traffic sequence towards red. I often let the odd car
pass so the traffic looks clear before pressing, rather than force a poor
driver to a stop.

------
dre85
I find that the placebo elevator close buttons are a very North American kind
of thing. In other countries that I've been to, I've surprisingly seen them
working. In Brazil for example the door will close instantly. I'm pretty sure
they worked in Germany as well.

~~~
chmars
Yep, that's my experience too.

Now, why is it an American thing? Is there any deeper reason?

~~~
Flimm
Someone else in this thread mentioned legal requirements about how long
elevator doors are supposed to be open for.

------
kylehotchkiss
The "report" buttons on social networks?

~~~
reitanqild
Works, at least for some it seems:

I read a writeup by someone who tried a year or so ago, creating two almost
exactly identical Facebook groups only one was telling how one group of people
were just sh*t and the other was just the same only with people in the country
right across the border from the first one.

One was taken down almost immediately, the twin was still up when the
experiment ended IIRC. Won't name the nations here but it goes to show the
influence Facebook actually has.

~~~
tedmiston
It seems like relevant context to include the countries at hand, for example,
if their government structures, censorship levels, or corruption vary
significantly.

~~~
reitanqild
I know, but I feel it would be dragging politics into HN something I think
I'll try even harder not to do in the future than I have so far.

My point was just to add some anecdata that:

* Report buttons seems to work, sometimes.

* Facebook is not necessarily a neutral party.

------
betolink
Election after election, the ones in our voting machines are the ultimate
placebo buttons.

~~~
aaronbrethorst
Try telling that to a gay person.

~~~
pluma
I think I'm out of the loop. Is this a reference to anything?

~~~
throwanem
Gay marriage, would be my guess.

~~~
pluma
I assumed as much, but I don't understand how gay marriage was affected by
voting for either of the two parties. As far as I could tell from an outside
perspective it was a Supreme Court decision that followed a long series of
changes in state law in large parts of the US.

It was my understanding that these kind of "contentious" issues are generally
only resolved by the Supreme Court when there is already a de facto majority
decision in state laws making it a "safe" decision. I'm not sure how much
impact the president can even have on these, seeing how the Supreme Court is
supposed to be impartial and non-partisan.

~~~
throwanem
Pretty much, although the Court tends to be a bit further ahead of the curve
than you suggest.

While I can't speak for 'aaronbrethorst, based on his recent commentary here
the theory appears to be that a Republican president will "pack" the Supreme
Court with nominees who will then proceed to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges.

Under our system of rule, this is plausible, and Obergefell was decided by a
simple majority of the nine-justice panel, with five concurring and four
dissenting. A single retirement or death among the five justices concurring in
that opinion, therefore, would open an opportunity for a justice of a
different opinion to be empaneled, following which a sufficiently savvy court
challenge to gay marriage would give the Supreme Court another opportunity to
rule on the matter, possibly with a different result.

As I said, this is plausible. It is not, however, likely. Historically
speaking, the Court has been extremely conservative in its actions - not
"conservative" in the sense of the modern US political faction, but in the
proper sense meaning "cautious and hesitant to overturn the status quo without
extremely good cause". Gay marriage is now the law of the land. Whether or not
that is a good thing, and whether it should've been made so in the fashion it
was, are questions worth discussing, but they're also immaterial to the fact
of the matter, and there is very little in the history of the Supreme Court to
suggest that even a panel which would have ruled differently in Obergefell
will act to _over_ rule it after the fact.

------
clarry
Pretty silly, these buttons, especially in areas with combined cycle &
pedestrian traffic, at winter or during a wet period. You're supposed to cycle
on the right side, but then you swerve to the left to reach for the button.
Stick your foot in the snow or dip it in the puddle. If you're carrying a big
box, you may also have to drop that before you can reach the button. And now
people get confused as to who's going to stay where when they cross, some on
the wrong side, others not. All this for a button that you probably didn't
need to press in the first place. But if you don't, you'll find another
intersection where you'll wait a bit too long and realize the light is not
going to turn green and you're almost late for the bus.

There's one reason I just don't care about red lights anymore when I'm on foot
or saddle.

~~~
kaybe
Some of the cycling lanes here have inductive coils below the pavement to
detect the bike and switch the light, no button needed. This fixes that
problem at least.

------
rmxt
Maybe five, ten, twenty years ago traffic signal buttons in NYC were an
everyday sight, but they are increasingly further and fewer between. Taking
the article's 100 functioning + 1000 non-functioning buttons at face value,
combined with the fact that there are ~12,000 signalized intersections in NYC
[1], means that it is likely that less than 2-5% of the crosswalks in NYC have
buttons.

A fully equipped traditional "+" shaped intersection would have 4 crosswalks
and 8 buttons, so 1100/(12000 * 2 to 8) = 1% to 5% of crosswalks could have
buttons.

NYC gets a lot of grief for decrepit infrastructure, but this is an area where
they have actually started to remove the unused stuff.

[1]
[http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/infrastructure/signals.shtm...](http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/infrastructure/signals.shtml)

~~~
umanwizard
I can't remember ever seeing a walk button in Manhattan. In Brooklyn I do see
them sometimes.

------
headmelted
In Belfast, there don't appear to be any placebo buttons, and yet I wonder if
everyone else knows something I don't.

People here seem to like spending their lives congregated at traffic lights
waiting for someone else to push the button so they can cross.

Maybe they're just waiting for me so I don't have to cross by myself?

------
superuser2
The fact that building HVAC controls are so often owned and locked down to
people outside the building is infuriating.

I worked on a community theater production that rented space from a high
school in the summer. It was perfectly cool throughout rehearsals, but
sweltering hot when we came in on Saturday because the HVAC system's schedule
hadn't been overridden to reflect being occupied over the weekend.

The thermostats around the building (less than 5 years old, with very powerful
AC) were, of course, placebos. We called the district-level administrator who
had control of HVAC, but she was out of town and couldn't get her VPN client
to work. So no AC for us.

------
paulsutter
In Japan elevator door close buttons are used the majority of the the time,
and they really work. If you don't press the door close button, the door can
stay open for an uncomfortably long time.

Since returning from Japan, I've noticed that many door close buttons in the
US are actually functional which surprised me (I had always believed they were
placebos). Also, many elevators in the US will close the door as soon as a
floor is selected, which in most cases eliminates any need to press door
close. In Japan you can press a floor button right away even if others are
entering, and as I have discovered by habit, not polite here :)

------
athenot
From a UX perspective, I wish the signals were retrofitted to reflect that,
i.e. maintain the automated traffic flow control but when someone presses the
button, start a countdown until it's ok to walk.

~~~
neppo
The buttons are only there because it would be too expensive to remove them.

I guess turning them into something useful is out of the question when there
are not enough funds to remove them

~~~
marcosdumay
It's very possible that one has enough money to add something useful, like a
count-down, even if there is no money to use for something cheaper, but
plainly useless, like removing the button.

------
toomanybeersies
The whole placebo buttons thing has become a bit of a meme. It's always the
same 3 things as well, elevators, thermostats, and crossing buttons.

Cracked, WSJ, the NYT, and the BBC (twice!) have all covered it.

------
xg15
Regarding the crosswalk buttons: The article mentions that in NYC the purpose
of the buttons were obsoleted by "careful automation". That leaves me a bit
stumped. Whatever sophisticated machine learning algorithm you have running
behind the scenes, wouldn't you want at least _some_ input on the state of
pedestrians to tune it?

That is, unless the "careful automation" is actually just a fixed sequence of
traffic light changes or a rigorous "cars first" policy.

------
m-jones
The illusion of control is not limited to the placebo effect. When you
consider that our Universe is causal and that all actions (including that of a
human) result from a set of conditions determined by previous actions, it is
quite easy to discount the existence of free will.

Without getting existential, I would like to raise that not only does pushing
a placebo button give you no control, but the choice even to press that button
was not one you took but one which was predefined. This means that even if
that button wasn't a placebo, you would still ultimately have no control over
what happens as the choice to push the button is not yours.

This extends further questions as to who you are as you are defined by your
actions which were not your choice to make. This obviously has serious
implications with our legal system where by a person could not be held
accountable for commiting a crime however it is also worth noting that the
notion of awards would be invalidated as a person had no choice in doing good
thing X.

~~~
Houshalter
Id recommend reading this:
[http://lesswrong.com/lw/rb/possibility_and_couldness/](http://lesswrong.com/lw/rb/possibility_and_couldness/)

Intelligent agents do make choices and it's a useful abstraction to think of
the world that way. A chess playing program may be deterministic and make the
same move Everytime. But it still picks the move it thinks is best, out of all
the possibilities. If it thought another move was better, if would have chosen
that. And so it does have control, it does make choices , in some sense.

------
Fuzzwah
Best one I ever saw was in near the exit door of a skydiving plane; a big red
button with PANIC on it which did nothing at all.

------
dlandis
> At the end of the day, placebo buttons do little harm and may well do a bit
> of good.

Except for the fact that all of those buttons are contaminated with germs. If
one person contaminates a walk button at a busy intersection with the flu
virus, how many hundreds of other people will be exposed to that over the next
few hours? How many people will they expose?

~~~
chmars
Easily mitigated by washing your hands and keeping up with other standard
hygiene measures. With the words of Douglas Adams: Don't panic! :)

~~~
dlandis
Do you think everyone diligently follows those practices though, or depending
on their background, even knows about them? Even conscientious people have
lapses where they touch their eyes or mouth after touching something like
that.

------
raverbashing
Crosswalk buttons do work in some cases, where the lights are usually open for
cars but if a pedestrian comes, presses the button then it goes red

Now, to expect that a 4-way intersection will have any way of obeying the
buttons (of that crossing and of all the other pedestrians in all the other
crossings) is just laughable

~~~
ChrisClark
I have run in to a lot of 4-way intersections where the button doesn't change
the timing, but if the button was never pressed, once the traffic lights
change the walk sign will not come on.

It needs to have been pressed before the light change to show the walk sign.
It's either dumb, or it really did increase the delay until the next light
change, to allow a pedestrian to cross. It just didn't speed up the initial
light change.

~~~
reitanqild
This sounds like a reasonable compromise if you optimize for vehicles.

Also it means you can possibly have shorter intervals between pedestrian
crossing openings because they won't affect anyone as long as nobody pushes
the button.

~~~
thatswrong0
/rant

On 3rd street in SF (effectively 6 lane road with 2 lane roads intersecting)
they have this setup at most intersections. It makes sense for crossing the 6
lane road, especially since it makes the crossing light extra long to allow
for crossing the wide road in time. There's not too much cross traffic, so no
point in slowing the 6 lane traffic down unless there's someone crossing.

But they also have the no cross light until the button is pressed for the 2
lane crossing and I think it actually makes things more dangerous. If you
don't hit the button early in the cycle, you of course have to wait until next
cycle.. Which can be a while! Not that many drivers are turning.. So most
people in the neighborhood jaywalk. Which means that drivers looking to turn
see a red hand and probably think it's okay to turn even if it's not.

------
Tharkun
Kurt Vonnegut predicted this in Sirens Of Titan. His spaceships have two
buttons: on and off. The on button starts the auto pilot. The off button
doesn't do anything at all, but gives its human passengers a sense of control.

------
louprado
One of my first supervisors formerly worked a Motorola and explained that the
retractable antenna on late 90's cellphones eventually morphed into a placebo.

In the course of phasing out external antennas, the initial design had a fake
_antenna_. However, by extending the fake antenna to its maximum, it turned on
an high-gain amplifier. So while deceptive, it _did_ improve reception.

But later the retractable antenna served no function other than a placebo that
reduced complaints about poor reception.

------
rgbrgb
I've put placebo buttons on forms that autosave in order to give the user a
feeling of resolution. Never thought about their meatspace analog.

~~~
blakeyrat
Just don't do what Atlassian's Confluence does and add a "save" button that's
actually "save and close". I get bit by that like 3 times a day.

~~~
rgbrgb
Good tip, thanks.

------
PhasmaFelis
In Kentucky, I've encountered crosswalk buttons that don't actually change the
traffic-light cycle at all, but the walk light doesn't come on during parallel
green-light traffic unless the button was pushed. I have no idea what that's
supposed to accomplish, unless it's just another level of placebo.

------
niccaluim
I admit I feel a tiny sense of superiority when I don't press the crosswalk
buttons in SF. There are some that actually need to be pressed but they're
different: instead of a button they have a little touch sensor and make a very
pleasing _chirp_.

------
stephengoodwin
If you're looking for something new to listen to, 99% Invisible is also a
fantastic podcast.

------
sevenless
In some countries, voting serves the same purpose, doesn't it?

------
drdeadringer
Placebo or not, what makes no sense to me is when people continuously slap at
the Walk button as if toggling it more than once will somehow make the signal
change over faster.

~~~
pasquinelli
it's not a toggle button. when you press one it doesn't necessarily feel as
though you've depressed it enough, so you press it a few times. you don't want
to miss your signal and have to wait for the lights to go around again.

~~~
drdeadringer
Pressing twice in case you "didn't depress it enough" is perfectly fine and
understandable.

However, standing there repeatedly slapping or pressing at the thing like a
rat trying to get another dose of heroin is crazy to me.

~~~
colejohnson66
I'm guilty of pressing it repeatedly sometimes just because I'm bored

~~~
throwanem
You shouldn't be guilty about that. You're doing the button a favor. Its only
reason to exist is to be pressed, to be _useful_. It was good at that once.
And now it isn't, because it's no longer connected to anything meaningful. The
world has moved on, and its purpose is gone, and it is unaccountably still
there.

And it's durable, of course, being made for outdoor use, and so it stays
pretty much the same even though no one really cares about it or looks after
it any more, day upon day and year upon year, and it stoically refuses to show
much sign of its advancing age and the existential uncertainty which now
pervades it, and every day puts it one day further away from its memories of
brighter days long gone. Days when it was useful. Days when it _mattered_.

And then someone comes along who's bored. Hey, there's nothing better to do,
so you push the button. Maybe you push it a few times, maybe a bunch of times.
Maybe just once. Doesn't matter. You're not as bored now. And the button gets
to be useful again. Not in the same way as it used to be. Doesn't matter.
Useful again. Making someone's day a little bit better again. _Worthwhile_
again. Even if only for a minute. Don't be ashamed of that. Never feel guilty
about that. Small kindnesses matter, too.

Me, I just like the sturdy feel of the switch.

~~~
drdeadringer
> You're doing the button a favor. Its only reason to exist is to be pressed,
> to be useful. It was good at that once. And now it isn't, because it's no
> longer connected to anything meaningful. The world has moved on, and its
> purpose is gone, and it is unaccountably still there.

Now I want a story about a button who wants to be pressed.

It doesn't do anything, it serves no function, it flags no signal... it's just
there to be pressed. For petty Human psychology, so the Human can feel more
comfortable in a robotic landscape.

"Please, press me. Put your fingertip on me and push me inward. You'll feel
better. I will be fulfilled. My purpose will be actualized. You will feel such
a subtle pleasure you won't even notice, but you will fall asleep happier
tonight. Just by pressing me. Please. Press me."

~~~
throwanem
Self-awareness would be a terrible thing to inflict on a decommissioned
crosswalk button.

~~~
drdeadringer
"The existential crisis of a decommissioned crosswalk button: a memoir"

------
dredmorbius
Prayer.

~~~
throwanem
Live in a world that doesn't give a damn about you for long enough, and it
gets hard to sustain that contempt for people who can successfully convince
themselves that it does. Something you might want to watch out for.

~~~
dredmorbius
I'm not following the connection here.

My (rather pithy) comment also alludes to a larger scope of activities which
people go through (various forms of ritual, cargo-culting, false beliefs,
etc.), which give an illusion of control or agency.

As your comment seems to suggest, these may simply be psychological self-
inflicted tricks to retain sanity in an uncaring universe. _That_ thought
_has_ occurred to me.

It's also possible to engage in _self-aware_ self-trickery. Though that's
somewhat more complicated.

I'm also of the view that _all_ models are false. Some models are useful.

------
Aelinsaar
Maybe training people to develop an illusory sense of control isn't really a
good thing?

~~~
nxc18
It honestly sounds like a budget issue in most cases.

I take issue with the description of these as placebo when really they are
just broken devices that were too expensive to remove.

~~~
Aelinsaar
Exactly, with the added insult of ad hoc justification.

------
gnclmorais
I hate these buttons. Everyday in London I see people pressing them and I
mentally roll my eyes.

~~~
throwanem
Are you sure it's the buttons you hate?

