You learn something new everyday, right? Especially in the digital age. Each morning we open our phones, tablets, or computers and wait for that familiar loading icon to stop spinning so that we can shove a boatload of information into our eyeballs before we even roll out of bed.
Today, as we ponder our existence and watch that little icon spin, I’m thrilled to bring you your daily new fact — with a slightly upsetting twist!
The loading icon is a staple of the Internet
It fooled you above, didn’t it?
In fact, it dates as far back as the early ‘90s (which was now over 30 years ago, in case you needed that unfriendly reminder). See, in the olden days of the Internet, we didn’t have Safari, or Chrome, or even Firefox — we had Mosaic, Netscape, and Internet Explorer. May they rest in peace.
The icon first made its debut on Mosaic
The loading icon in question is what we would refer to today as a “download” icon, aka the icon that spins at the top of the page while it loads and “downloads” the content of the page.
The Internet was a lot slower back in those dial-up days, so we’d stare at that thing for a quick minute while waiting for those ancient websites to load. Yes, I said ancient. It’s how I feel!
And the name for that icon?
After it was recently re-discovered by X (formerly Twitter) account Today Years Old, the name for the loading icon quickly sent users into a hilarious tailspin. Yup, that friendly little thing’s name is a “Throbber.”
No one ever accused anyone who built or uses the Internet of being mature, after all.
Let’s get one thing straight here.
The Throbber (shudder) is not the same thing as the spinning wheel of death, aka the hourglass, aka the rainbow wheel.
It’s the little icon at the top of your browser that spins while the page loads, not the wheel that replaces your cursor while your computer has a tiny temper tantrum. Okay? We good? We clear? Onto the jokes.
People were SHOOK.
Memes were made. Reaction images were used. Gifs were deployed. Jokes were made (a lot of them). No one could handle the reveal of that fun little fact with any manner of decorum. Including me. The throbber? Come on now.
Others thought it sounded ridiculous.
Which it objectively is, let’s be real. No one is going to suddenly start calling it by that name in everyday life, unless they’re about to turn to someone and drop this exact fun fact. I’m calling that thing the “loading wheel” for the rest of my life.
Jokes were made.
I mean, you kinda can’t not make fun of a name like that. I’ve chosen a few of my favorites for your reading entertainment, starting with this one. I told you I have a deeply immature sense of humor!
Others had different names for it.
This is SO cute. I’ve never thought of it as anything other than the loading wheel, but people on X sure had some fun suggestions. I’m trying to keep it PG-13 in here, so I can’t post some of the more…colorful choices, but you can imagine the butt-related suggestions they had.
And still others had some thoughts on the wheel itself.
Sorry, the Throbber. Ugh, even typing that is a bummer. Name notwithstanding, that damn icon does engender a level of impatience in me that I did not think I was capable of reaching. There’s few things more annoying to me than a slow-loading app or site. I pay for fast Internet, I deserve fast Internet!
I think this sums my thoughts up nicely.
I mean, yeah. Even if we did know what it was named, there’s no way any of us was going to use that in a professional environment. Imagine teenagers finding this one out. The chaos. The jokes. No, we’re keeping this one to ourselves.
So, in conclusion:
We will not be using the proper name for that icon, right? We can agree as Internet users that we do not need to bring that particular name into our regular Internet vernacular. Some things are better left unused.
