Microdelays disrupt online learning

Tue, 25 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract: The advent of online education promised to democratize access to knowledge, but that promise remains unmet. We identify an overlooked barrier to success in online education: load time microdelays that impede learners with slower internet connections. We show that microdelays on the order of 1 to 2 seconds predict impaired learning in two large field studies, spanning over a quarter million observations from 79k learners. U.S. K-12 students (N = 22,355) who faced longer load times when completing math assignments were less likely to complete assignments, needed more sessions to complete a given assignment, were more likely to get distracted mid-task, and earned lower scores. Likewise, aspiring coders from around the globe (N = 56,655) who faced microdelays spent less time on a coding learning platform, visited fewer pages, were less focused, and completed fewer lessons. We confirm the robustness of these results in multiverse analyses across a range of model specifications, and find evidence supporting the causal role of microdelays in analyses that leverage quasi-random within-person fluctuations in load times. These findings challenge the prevailing assumption that the digital access divide is largely resolved; instead, this divide persists through seemingly trivial differences in internet speed.

Friction | Asaf Mazar

Microdelays disrupt online learning