# Timer
The timer is an action in Colibri which allows designers to **create a delay** between steps and allows designers to **publish other content outside the primary channel**. This creates a sense of realism when an immediate reaction would seem unusual.
{% hint style="warning" %}
It's usually *not* a good idea to slow down the player experience because you remove their agency, which means you risk spoiling their engagement.
{% endhint %}
| Benefit | Feature |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------- |
| Improve the realism in some cases when an immediate response would seem inaccurate | Set duration of the delay |
| | Connect up to three steps |
## How to
To set up a timer in your exercise, create a new step. In the `Body` tab in the right-hand window, select `Action`. Under *Type of action*, select `Timer` from the drop-down list:
To set the duration, go into the `Interactions` tab. Click the up and down arrows in the boxes to set the duration of the delay between steps in hours, minutes, and seconds:
### Timer visible
You can choose whether to make the timer **visible or not** to players in the virtual desktop.
| Visible use | Invisible use |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| You might want to make the timer visible to players to create **time pressure during key player decisions** | You might want to make the timer invisible to players when using the timer **only to send out additional content** |
To configure this in the Editor, navigate to `Configuration` > `Channels` and find the timer channel in the list in the main window:
### :star:Add additional steps
In `Interactions` on steps, you can activate **up to 2 additional steps** on any option selected. You can utilise the timer action to send out additional content:
For example, you may want to send out multiple posts on MicroBlog (Twitter), but don't have enough additional steps. By setting a short timer, you can send out 2 more steps and **simulate social media pressure** for participants.
