The Physics of 60fps Micro-Interactions: Why Spring Damping Matters

## Why Traditional Easing Feels Robotic

Standard linear and ease-in-out curves do not exist in the physical world. Objects possess mass, friction, and inertia. When UI elements snap robotically into place, the human brain perceives the interface as cold and synthetic.

The Golden Spring Constants

In Framer Motion, tweaking stiffness and damping changes the entire emotional perception of an app:

const tactileSpring = {
  type: "spring",
  stiffness: 400,
  damping: 30,
  mass: 0.8,
};

Hardware Acceleration Rules

• Only animate `transform` and `opacity`
• Avoid layout thrashing triggered by height and width transitions
• Use `will-change` sparingly to avoid GPU memory overflow
• Always respect `prefers-reduced-motion` for accessibility