Beyond the mouse: How the click became the soundtrack of our lives

Beyond the mouse: How the click became the soundtrack of our lives
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The most reassuring sound in modern life is one everyone hears but no one registers anymore. It’s tiny, as sounds go; it’s only got one note. One probably hears it at least a dozen times before one’s morning coffee. It’s there as you punch your phone keys, open and shut cabinet doors, fiddle with on-off switches, maybe even as you shower.

The click is the ambient sound of everyday living. “Even if you don’t use a computer mouse or a camera, you’ll hear clicks everywhere once you start paying attention,” says Theresa Joseph, a retired high-school English teacher. It’s there when a button is pressed, a pen capped, a container or purse clasped shut, a seatbelt fastened, a key turned in a lock or, as Joseph recalls, when the person on the other end of a landline hung up.

For every task that involves a series of minor steps, the click offers audible reassurance that one step, often the final one, has snapped perfectly into place.

We’ve been relying on the click for much longer than we realise. Metal fasteners on clothing show up on the armour of China’s ancient terracotta warriors that date back to 210 BCE. Their more contemporary cousins, the disc-like snap-on buttons you see on infant onesies, and inlaid with pearl, on cowboy shirts, date back to 1885. German inventor Heribert Bauer patented the design in that year, primarily for men’s trousers. German entrepreneur Hans Prym improved on it in 1930, creating the standardised ball-and-socket closure that produces the snap sound we find so satisfying.

The family-owned business, Prym Fashion, still produces millions of these buttons. Meanwhile, other products have relied on click mechanisms for ease of use. The first ballpoint pens with a retractable tip — no need for a cap — hit markets in the 1950s. For many who struggle with attention-deficit disorders, the spring-loaded clickers served as early fidget spinners, a safe (albeit annoying) way to let off excess steam. In interior design, tiles, particularly wood- or fibre-based ones, are now fabricated with edges designed to snap into place like puzzle pieces, so masons can align them just right.

Snap judgements

We’re so used to this audio cue that the clicking sound is often added in artificially, for reassurance. Take the computer mouse. A thin micro-switch sits inside the chassis, its sound amplified by the hollow cavity of the device’s body. (Incidentally, that’s why clicks from the same mouse tend to sound different when it’s a different user, or the same person clicking with more pressure).

The Mac has added simulated click sounds to some of its laptop track pads too. Most users appreciate the audible proof that their touch commands are being registered.

“If you think about it, a click is simply the sign of a job well done,” says Joseph. No wonder autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR)-themed channels on YouTube dedicate whole videos to them. One, 39 minutes long and posted by ASMR Bakery in 2018, features iPods, flashlights and pens in use. It has more than 1.3 lakh views. “Decided to have this video open in three tabs at the same time and I’m in heaven,” reads one comment.

Another video, 36 minutes long, posted by Gibi ASMR in 2020, focuses on fingers typing at a moderate pace on an LED keyboard. It has more than 28 lakh views. Users mention that rhythmic clackety sounds of someone working has helped with insomnia and anxiety attacks. Pen aficionados, meanwhile, have videos dedicated to finding out which fountain pens close with the most satisfying pop. (The Lamy 2000 and the Pilot Prera are particularly lauded for their crisp snap).

Then again, clicks just don’t click with some listeners. Audiologists Pawel Jastreboff and Margaret Jastreboff coined the term misophonia in 2000 for the condition where people find repeated noises such as clicking or scratching unbearably disturbing. For the rest of us, tuning into the symphony of buttons, flip-open bottles, toggling switches and mechanisms running smoothly might just serve as a dose of mindfulness on a busy day. It’s click-bait of an entirely different kind.

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