Async vs Await, isn’t This Just Synchronous?

📌Intro

If awaitpauses execution… doesn’t that make it synchronous again? This is the #1 async misconception.

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🧠Context

• awaitlooks synchronous but isn’t.
• It pauses only the current async function, without blocking the event loop.

Examples:

async function main() {
  console.log("Before");
  await new Promise(res => setTimeout(res, 1000));
  console.log("After");
}

main();
console.log("Outside");

// Output:
// Before
// Outside
// After

Arrow version:

const main = async () => {
  console.log("Start");
  await new Promise(res => setTimeout(res, 1000));
  console.log("Done");
};

main();

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💡Real-Life Example:

Your UI doesn’t freeze while waiting for a network call.
E.g., while checking login, users can still scroll, click, or type.

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JavaScript is single-threaded, but async/await lets you write non-blocking code that looks clean.