While we
were children, summer holidays lasted forever and winter break for centuries.
Have you ever wondered, why when we are older time is running definietly
faster? A week is like a day, month like week and years pass by with dizzying
speed? So how does it happened that the older we are the less time we have?
It seems
reasonable that older people perceive time differently then younger ones
because of overload of activities that need to be done and constant life in a
hurry. But is it the only reason? There are a few theories that explains why
perceiving time accelerate along with our age.
One theory
is that the human mind senses the change of time by changing the perceived
images. This can be explained so that time needed for our mind to understand
what we perceive becomes longer with age. Along with ageing the body we
perceive and recognize less and less so it is not time that shortens but our
brain is getting tired more quickly. The best example is human eye. It is in
constant movement and after processing some image or detail it is instantly
re-focusing on something different. This phenomenon is called saccadic eye movement.
Studies showed that average eye of adult human is performing 3 to 5 saccadic
eye movement in each second, having focus time of 200 to 300 milliseconds.
These statistics are far lower for children, which thanks to this can perceive
much more much faster, therefore for them more things are happening in one
moment which can make an impression that time is running slower.
The second
idea is that it is conditioned by a gradual change in our internal biological
clocks. Not only our metabolism is slowing but also our heart beat and breath.
Biological clock of children is working much faster. So, they experience more
heart beats and breaths in same time as adults so it may feel like more time
has passed where in reality it is not true.
Third
theory is that perceiving time for some people can be linked to logarithmic
scale. It means that some period of passed time, we start to perceive as
proportion of time we already lived. The best way to explain it is on an
example. When we are two years old, one year is as much as a half of our life
(when we are young it is incredibly long period of time, especially while
waiting for our next birthday). When we are ten years old, one year is 10% of
our life, while when we are twenty it is only 5%. So, if two-year-old kid waited
half of his life for next birthday, a 20-year-old would have to wait 10 years
for his birthday! Considering this point of view, it is not surprising, that
time seems to accelerate while we age.
I
personally can see huge difference between how fast time is passing now and for
example 15 year earlier. I was always interested in this phenomenon, so I
decided to dig deeper and create this presentation. I hope you enjoyed reading
it 😊
Questions:
1. Do you feel difference in perceiving
time earlier when you were young and now?
2. Do you know of any other reason or
theory why this phenomenon takes place?
3. Can you think of any solution or
trick that can “buy” us some more time?
Sources:
Comments
time perception. The saccadic eye movment was
completly new to me so I'm gratefull for
opportunity to go deeper and enlarge my
knowledge. Personally I'm finding myself feeling
passage of time every day. Each action in daily life
has a time price and I'm constantly working on
solutions for improving my time schedule. I don't
agree that time is passing faster now then when
I was younger becouse with ageing I feel like I'm
better at spending it. For example when I was
on holidays while in highschool I felt like they
lasted for less then a week and you had to go back
for another year closed in class. Now I can find
myself in situation when time goes with speed
of sound but with things that I really enjoyed
or influance my life in positive way or just make
me feel better. So in my opinion the phenomenon
I'm encountering is loseing myself in time. Life
has validity date and we cannot change that.
There always be things that will feel for us like
worthless and We might thought of them as lost time
but for me the best way to trick them is to serch
for things that I can lose myself into. That way
even if time accelerate when I'm going with the flow
I'm staying with this awsome feeling of drawing upon
it for 100% even if my perfecionist eye don't allow
me to look at them that way ;p
2. No, honestly, I always thought that perceiving time depends only on the density of our duties. If you are occupied with work all the time, there is no place for boredom and even thinking about the time lapse. The only exception are some lectures which can slow down the time radically while draining the last amounts of energy by the occasion 😊
3. I think that the most important thing is to keep our tasks well organised and try not to postpone any activities which could be done immediately. I personally use an app “Wunderlist” which helps me remember all things to do and gives a possibility to set a due date to all items which can be exported to the calendar later. That kind of planning can help to remain control over rushing time.
I think everyone feels the difference. In childhood wanted to grow up quickly and walk as much as you want. And now not noticed as only recently graduated from high school, and now I'm graduating from University.
2. Do you know of any other reason or theory why this phenomenon takes place?
Nо, I don't know. But I think that in childhood there was just no duties and problems, and in adult life they appeared and we simply cease to notice how fast time flies.
3. Can you think of any solution or trick that can “buy” us some more time?
All decisions and tricks described in different books about time management. I think everything that could be invented has already been invented.
1. Oh yes. This is very noticable. And I think that not only in my case. Everyone feels the strange difference. However, this is the nature's way. In childhood, we spent a lot of time carefree, having fun. Usually, we do not worry about problems in our childhood. But in adulthood we think more seriously - studying, working, relationships... It all causes our brain to be busy all the time and we simply do not notice our passing time. But still, in my case I think that time is slowing down, despite all these duties.
2. Nope, I don't know other reasons or theories why we feel such speeding time. I just got to know these reasons from your article.
3. Being a child? Again! You can throw everything - your job, study, girl/boyfriend and get rid of responsibilities. This is the only answer, haha! Now seriously: I read somewhere that some tricks can be done to fool our brain. In time management articles, I think? I don't remember.
About those theories I myself came up with the third one -- the more you live, the lesser part of your life a certain time amount is. Therefore, it is all highly logical and I see that theory the most plausible. Although, I am curious about those with Alzheimer, for example. They do not remember their lives. Therefore, they should precept the time as a child would do.
2. I think that this also has to do with the fact that now we have more duties and less free time.
3. Sometimes he helps me as he stops hurrying and I do everything calmly.
Sure, i feel difference in perceiving time now, because of working harder. But it depends on what you do day-by-day.
2. Do you know of any other reason or theory why this phenomenon takes place?
Honestly, i have never read or heard about this one, but after your article, i will definitely take a look on something similar.
3. Can you think of any solution or trick that can “buy” us some more time?
Stop wasting your time for stupid things. If you are 25 years old and you are still playing games or living with parents, come on, you sucks.
2. I think that time might feel like it is going faster just because we have a lot things to do and a lot to think about when we are thinking about the future and days are just going and going and we are not even thinking about it.
3. I think that the best solution to buy ourselves some time is to organize everything and know what you have to do in every day. I think that waking up early and doing the most important stuff in the beginning of the day might save us some time but as we all know we cant cheat time, its just flows and noone can change that.
And as for the questions, I think that time flows the same way, and the difference that we see lies in life experience. Recently I have been terribly long because I have a knee problem and I can not do many things. Either way, this phenomenon also occurs in me. It seems to me that we waste a lot of time on unstructured and unplanned days. In my opinion, to have more time you need to sort your life, but it is not always possible. You can also sleep less, but I do not recommend it.
Ofcourse, i remember my HB and NY when i was a child, and it’s really different then now,
2018 then in a moment 2019 and i thinking omg what i did, why so fast.
2. Do you know of any other reason or theory why this phenomenon takes place?
i am agree with 1 and 3 theory, looks like with when i was a child my world it’s home and kindergarten, but now you saw that the world is little bigger :)
3. Can you think of any solution or trick that can “buy” us some more time?
No drugs, alcohols, video games, and boring life :)
The goal causes that time is running out faster.
2. I do not know.
3. If I didn't have to work, I would definitely have more time :)
Yes, I feel the difference in perceiving time. So far, I have in memory a Christmas holiday from the past, when the week persisted in my opinion as much as in the last years - 2 months of vacation. Looking back, it is awful how differently we perceive time and how much time we lack, the older we are.
2. Do you know of any other reason or theory why this phenomenon takes place?
I have never been interested in this issue, but I suspect that all the theories you mentioned, as well as many other factors have an impact on this. In my opinion, the reduction of interest in the world is also a big influence.
3. Can you think of any solution or trick that can “buy” us some more time?
If we tried to live a little slower and tried to appreciate and pay attention to details, it is possible that time would start to flow even more slowly, and certainly more pleasant!
The time that social media and the internet take away from us also causes that we feel much less time.
So get up from the computer and take care of something more interesting! Something that will allow you to be happy and not addicted to the screen computer or smartphone.
I think I do. But none in a same way. Some things I think that were time in my childhood that would last forever like classes in school and there were things that would last like a one or two seconds.
2. Do you know of any other reason or theory why this phenomenon takes place?
I'm afraid I do not :(
3. Can you think of any solution or trick that can “buy” us some more time?
Hmmm that may sound cheap but being well-organized may help a lot. Also using apps for time managment would be nice.
Definitely. The relativity of time is one of the most interesting, and, perhaps, saddest phenomena that I've ever wondered upon. Our childhood seems like a long period of time, almost as if we had been another people, and now, I always think of myself as if I was still 18-20 years old and each coming year I cannot see any difference. It is also because we do not change as much as we used to when we were growing up.
2. Do you know of any other reason or theory why this phenomenon takes place?
As mentioned before, the theory of change. When we are teenagers, our bodies and our lives change more dramatically. However, after turning 20, the turning points in our lives come less often and, as a result, we perceive our lives as more static, and shorter.
3. Can you think of any solution or trick that can “buy” us some more time?
I think we could try to spend less time on shallow activities, such as watching series or memes on the Internet.
For me, there is a big difference. When I was there was more time, there was a longer holiday, freedom. Now work and studies contribute to the feeling that this time is less than it was.
2.Do you know of any other reason or theory why this phenomenon takes place?
I do not have a theory, but it seems to me that everything depends on the amount of work and responsibilities. It seems to me that also the place which is Warsaw shortens our time because
people are rushing here and are always in a hurry.
Can you think of any solution or trick that can “buy” us some more time?
For me there is one simple trick "Planning", thanks to him we are able to buy more time :)
There is still such a theory, as I noted, maybe it was the same with you: when you are really waiting for something, the time stretches in this gap. But if you live, without any expectations for the near future, it seems that time goes faster.
It seems to me that one of the solutions, to avoid temporal distortion, is just to think less about it. But above, I read the idea that you need to remain a child. Sometimes it is also very useful!
2 No I don’ know any other reason or theory why this phenomenon takes place.
3 Don’t smoke, don’t drink, eat vegetables, do sport and maybe a cream for wrinkles 50+.
I like the logarithmic scale where we perceive time in proportion to age. When I was a child a year seemed to forever. But now 1 year is no longer in such distant future.
Some time ago I had theory that when we are younger we constantly experience new things like first day at school, first job etc., but when we grow up we even rarely met new people.
Its good thing to organise your time and working environment before your work. It’s also important when you are working to eliminate distractions. Your smartphone is extremely useful, but it’s also addictive and among the most insidious time-wasters known to mankind.
I don't know about any theory connected with this phenomenon.
If trick like this would exists I'd like to know about it and give it a try !
2. Not really. Maybe the fact that we tend to go on auto pilot so much. If you don’t even remember what you just did it sure feels like lost time.
3. Don’t sleep. I’m joking of course. Honestly time doesn’t seem to slip away as fast when I’m well rested so just the opposite. Also breaking the routine and doing something unusual can make a day seem much longer.
Yes, things were a lot slower. I had time for everything. Now, I dont
2. Do you know of any other reason or theory why this phenomenon takes place?
I think this phenonem exists in multidimensional space.
3. Can you think of any solution or trick that can “buy” us some more time?
Quit job? Move to a place without internet? Or mayby just stop participating in this course. who knows?
2. I think the answer is quite simple- it's what we pay attention to. When we were kids we didn't notice our parents getting older because they were constantly around us, also we grew together with our peers so we didn't notice them change that much. However when we grow up and have are own kids or simply by living somewhere else we suddenly see how our children are changing, how our hometown has changed since our last visit or how our parents get older and all of that creates an impression of time rushing forward.
3. Not really, I think it's inevitable but what could help is trying to avoid routine- find a job you love, travel as much as possible and cherish every moment you get to spend with the people you care about the most, make sure to be actively a part of their lives.