How long does that wait actually feel?

Perceived time and measured time diverge sharply under about a minute. Here are the real numbers.

The wait Unit

67% of a traffic light

60 s is longer than 3 of the 9 references on this page.

Reference figures are measurements and are rounded; the unit conversion behind them is exact.

Every reference on this page, with its size and its ratio to your number
Reference	Size	Yours ÷ theirs	Note
a page loading	2.5 s	24×
a lift arriving	20 s	3×
a TV advert	30 s	2×
a traffic light	90 s	0.667×
a kettle boiling	150 s	0.4×
a supermarket queue	240 s	0.25×
a microwave meal	300 s	0.2×
an airport security queue	900 s	1/15
a long-haul flight	39,600 s	1/660	Eleven hours

Users abandon a web page in large numbers after about three seconds, which is why the two-and-a-half second figure is an industry obsession.
People overestimate waits with no visible progress by roughly 36%, which is why progress bars exist even when they are lying.

Frequently asked

Unoccupied time feels about 36% longer than occupied time, and unexplained waits feel longer still. Queue design exploits both facts.

Conversion falls measurably beyond two seconds and steeply beyond three. Mobile users are less patient than desktop users, not more.