A parcel’s tracking updates can turn waiting into repeatedly checking the same hope.

Information can make waiting worse rather than shorter. Refreshing a page turns a passive stretch of time into an activity, and each check delivers a small burst of hope followed by the same unchanged line, which trains you to check again. Nothing arrives faster for being watched. The updates give anxiety something to do instead of relieving it.

When you are waiting on something outside your control, decide in advance how often you will look and keep to it. Once in the morning is usually plenty. Give the rest of the time to something that moves when you push it.