Bridge
Explore

Also called: autism, sensory overload, anxiety from busy pages

Senses & calm

When pages are too loud, too bright, or too unpredictable.

Some people take in sound, light and movement more intensely than others. Many autistic people describe this, and so do people who experience anxiety, migraines or sensory sensitivity. A busy page can feel like a crowded, noisy room.

Feeling overwhelmed is a reasonable response to a lot of input at once. Many people also find comfort in predictability, and sudden changes can take real energy to handle.

The web often adds to the load: autoplay sound, flashing adverts, pop-ups, moving carousels and layouts that change without warning. Calmer pages, predictable patterns and easy ways to switch things off make the web more comfortable for everyone.

See it for yourself

A short simulation. Then turn on the fix and notice the difference.

Simulation

A crowded page: flashing headlines, a subscribe banner, an autoplaying video, a cookie banner and pop-ups around one paragraph.

Busy pages can be overwhelming and exhausting. This simulation moves slowly on purpose and never flashes quickly.

What gets in the way online

  • Autoplay video and sound, especially background music
  • Animations, carousels, parallax scrolling and flashing adverts
  • Pop-ups, cookie banners and chat widgets appearing without warning
  • Cluttered layouts with bright colours and many things competing for attention
  • Sudden redesigns and unpredictable interfaces

What helps

  • Turning on 'reduce motion' and blocking autoplay
  • Ad blockers that remove most pop-ups and moving adverts
  • Reader modes and page simplifiers that show only the main content
  • Removing background music from videos while keeping speech
  • Dark mode, lower brightness and softer colours
  • Predictable online routines and a planned way to step away

Tools that help

Learn more

Every course for Senses & calm