14 years ago, I refused to build a fake progress bar for a Java Swing app.
Or even just count the downloaded update files and call that "progress."
It would have been easier. Faster. Less code.
But I didn't.
Because it felt wrong to deceive the user.
Today?
Skeleton loaders. Shimmer effects. Fake spinners.
All "best practices." All "UX improvements."
What I rejected for ethical reasons is now taught to beginners as "how to do it right."
This isn't progress. This is rock bottom.
📖 A Programmer's Inferno — Circle Five: The Psychology of Distraction
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