Slow loading web content, buffering video increase stress for users —study

Delays in loading web pages and buffering videos increase users' heart rates and stress levels, a recent study revealed.

Consumers' heart rates increase by 38 percent due to delays in loading web content, according to the study conducted by Ericsson, a communication technology company,

On average, stress rises from 19 percent to 34 percent when videos re-buffer, it added.

"When consumers turn to their smartphones to find information quickly, they want an instantaneous response," the report read.

It also said that under time constraints, slow loading time in web pages and videos is akin to watching a horror movie.

The level of stress caused by mobile delays overtook those of other situations such as waiting in line at a retail store, watching a melodramatic TV show, and standing at the edge of a virtual cliff.

If the consumer encountered no delays, he unconsciously becomes more satisfied with the mobile service provider.

Video streaming

The study revealed that videos are the number one traffic generator in mobile data, followed by social networking.

According to statistics gathered during the study in 2015, even a two-second delay in loading a YouTube video increases stress by 3 percent, and once the video begins, a single pause causes stress levels to shoot up by 15 percent.

Half of the recorded mobile data traffic in 2015 was composed of video traffic, it added.

Ericsson conducted the study to measure consumers' objective reactions to network performance while they're using mobile phones. —JST, GMA News