What is Temporal Distortion?
What casinos, malls, and retailers do to keep you spending
Have you ever walked into a mall or a big-box store — like a Walmart, Target, or IKEA — and found yourself shopping for hours instead of minutes?
For example, if you’ve visited an IKEA warehouse, you might’ve noticed that there are no (working) clocks or windows once you’re inside the store. Most malls have limited skylights and few windows. This exclusion of daylight is an old trick borrowed from casino design. Many casinos don’t have clocks or windows, in the hope that gamblers will lose track of how long they’ve been at the table.
Why? It’s because casinos, malls, and big-box stores want to create a sense of “temporal distortion” for their customers.
What is Temporal Distortion?
Temporal distortion — or time distortion — is a change in a person’s perception of time. If you’ve ever been reading or playing a video game and told yourself “I’ll just do this for five minutes” then looked up to see that two hours have passed, you’ve experienced a temporal distortion.
The act of creating an environment that purposely makes it difficult to tell how much time has passed is common in retail and digital design. Having fewer items that remind you how long you’ve…
