---
title: Weber-Fechner Law And Perception
date: 2025-09-23T00:00:00
author: Charlie M.
category: SIGNAL
---
I was standing by the window this morning, staring at the sun and wondering if I'd remembered to water the plant. The sunlight kinda just slants in, you know, in that way it does when you haven't washed the windows in a while and everything looks a bit hazy. Maybe that's why I keep forgetting about the plant. It's almost like if I squint hard enough everything will sharpen up, but it doesn't, and then it got me thinking about perception. Like, how we see stuff, you know? I remember reading something about this—Weber-Fechner Law or something. It's supposed to be about perception, but do I really get it? Unlikely.
So, here's the thing. This law—Weber-Fechner—has got something to do with how we perceive differences in stimuli. Yeah, stimuli, like light, sound, weight. Apparently, the more intense a stimulus is, the harder it is to notice small changes. I think that's what it said. Or maybe I’m just making that up. Like, if you're at a concert, you might not notice the volume going up by one notch, but at home in the silence of your room, that same notch would feel massive. Is that why I keep blowing out my eardrums at concerts? Who knows.
Scrolling Instagram, I guess, is like the same deal. I notice the big things, like when someone dyes their hair pink or adopts a new dog, but the little things—the subtle changes in someone’s artwork or the way they caption their photos—those slip right by. It makes me wonder if I'm even perceiving things right or if Instagram’s just messing with my head. I mean, I’ve deleted the app a few times, thinking it'd help, thinking maybe I’d perceive life differently, but then I just come back. Do I notice a difference when I’m off it? Maybe a little. Or maybe I just distract myself with something else—YouTube spirals, workout plans I never follow through.
And workouts, wow. That’s a whole thing. I try this plan I found, which claimed to be backed by science—could've sworn it mentioned something about like a 15% efficiency increase if you followed it perfectly, but then there's Weber-Fechner again. I think I read that as we get stronger, it gets tougher to recognize those gains, small as they might be. So am I getting stronger or has it all plateaued? Am I just too numb to notice? Maybe. Probably. I try to keep track, jot down reps, but honestly, it blurs after a while.
The law or theory or whatever it is makes me question how much of what I “know” is truly noticed by me, or just slipping by unnoticed. Do I even perceive things as they are, or just in relation to what I was doing before? Like tuning out mild discomfort because you're used to it or something, so when you finally break out of that cycle, it's like, revelation! Or, maybe it's just life, ongoing changes that I can't always bring into focus, like that plant I forgot to water, which might be wilting or thriving without me really seeing it.
And really, isn’t that it? Not knowing, feeling around in the dark, maybe shedding some light here and there but mostly just standing at the window, looking at the sunlight through unclean glass, wondering if I’m missing something. I think that’s where all this meandering leads. If it even leads anywhere at all. Maybe I should water that plant. Or clean the windows. Or maybe, just maybe, I'll just stay here, caught in this sunbeam, wondering.