Transmission time

Many computers are advertised as being quite fast.  That is, they perform their operations quickly.  I learned years ago that most of the time I spend with any internet connected device is time I am thinking or correcting keys I hit by mistake. I do realize there is a small time span between the time I depress a keyboard key and the letter for that key appears on my screen.  I believe that my computer is my fastest connected device followed by my tablets followed by my phone.

Because the time lapse is small, negligible even, it is easy to overlook the fact my own brain, my hands, my eyes all take time to perform. I remember studying in grad school about astronomers coming to realize that perception takes time, writing the time of an event takes time so the personal element matters.  In addition to those things, internet operations that involve other machines need time to communicate results that themselves took time to calculate and communicate.