I do wish there was a way for modern devices to let users know when they're "thinking" about something. Back in the day you could look at the disk access light.

I do wish there was a way for modern devices to let users know when they're "thinking" about something. Back in the day you could look at the disk access light. If it was blinking quick, your computer is slow because something is taking time reading from the disk. If it's solidly on, the entire system may be hung and it's probably quicker to just reboot and try again. Even with my old iPod Mini, if it was running slow I could put it up to my ear and hear if the hard drive was cranking away. My desktop has an SSD, but if the fans kick on slightly higher, it's probably chewing on something and it might come back, just give it a sec. But with a phone? With modern fanless laptops? There's no indicator that the system is working or if it's straight up hung and you'll need to reboot. And oftentimes for the sake of user friendliness, they just say "please wait" or have a spinning icon instead of saying what they're doing and showing a progress bar. Troubleshooting has gotten a lot harder as devices get faster and smarter.