Showerthought: My bank's app made me confirm a $5 transfer three separate times, but a $500 payment went through with one tap.

I read a post here about 'confirmation fatigue' and it clicked that this design punishes small, frequent actions while making big, risky ones too easy, so how do we fix that without just adding more annoying pop-ups?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_lee3mo ago

Wait, is that really about confirmation fatigue? Sounds more like a broken risk model.

faith_smith1mo ago

I read a study from a behavioral economist that said people get numb to security checks when they happen too often, so the brain stops paying attention. That explains why your bank made you triple-confirm the $5 coffee but let the $500 rent slip through with no friction. Instead of adding more pop-ups, they should flip it - make big transactions trigger one real check, like a quick call or text, and trust the small ones to just go through.

miles_roberts223mo ago

My buddy Jake had to type in a code from his key fob just to buy a $3 coffee on his bank card last week. Then he accidentally sent his landlord $1200 for rent instead of $120 and there was no check at all.