When the network is congested, looking at the mempool really feels like watching traffic flow; everyone is in line, and your transaction is basically just taking a number and waiting to be called. In the meantime, it gets repeatedly "weighed": if the Gas fee isn't high enough, it gets pushed back; if someone in front raises their bid to cut in line, you just keep waiting, even starting to doubt if you clicked the right option... Anyway, I often stare at that string of pending transactions in a daze.

Recently, with the wave of cross-chain bridge thefts, it’s even more obvious on the chain—everyone’s unified mindset is "Don’t move first, wait for confirmation." After oracles reported an outrageous price once, it’s even more so—people prefer to be a bit slower rather than get caught up in the chaos. To put it simply, congestion isn’t the worst part; the most annoying thing is not knowing who in this queue is causing trouble.