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Why time “speeds up” as we get older (2019)

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Re: Why time “speeds up” as we get older (2019)

#81

Post by motohagiography »

new_guy wrote: post #33

I would have expected better especially from Harvard, it's already known why. Subjective time is measured in terms of biological impact events. Basically the more novel experiences you have the slower time seems to pass for you, the less novel (interesting) stuff you do the faster time passes because there's no markers. This stuff has been known for literally decades now.

The novel experiences explanation is very interesting but I'd wonder whether novel ideas constitute experiences, or are experiences something that requires more action or something else?

Anecdotally, I've been sitting in the same house for 20 months of the pandemic and have a diminished sense of time, and while in that time I've taken up music and new instruments, written volumes, transformed physically (weight loss), kept up regular highly intense physical hobbies, added and removed clients/jobs, worked in vastly different fields.

However, I've always pursued novelty, and I'd wonder if this accepted explanation would indicate that the brain is now just bored of novelty, or if something about these things were not sufficiently novel experiences, and where does that sufficiency land?

Re: Why time “speeds up” as we get older (2019)

#82

Post by monster_group »

IMHO, in middle age there's more to do and worry about. For example, I took off today and the morning was over before I knew it. That's because I spent an hour trying to make sure that my insurance agent is not gouging me by getting other insurance quotes and then trying to bring my premium down by increasing deductible. Spent some time going over property tax statement and HOA notice that rates are going to go up again. I had to none of these things when I was younger.

Re: Why time “speeds up” as we get older (2019)

#83

Post by cmrdporcupine »

Our neurons callus just like all our other tissues. The passage of time and the impressions and sensations fail to break through.

I'm sure there's a poem there somewhere. Like tears in rain. Or something something. It's my birthday in a couple weeks. Hooray.

Re: Why time “speeds up” as we get older (2019)

#84

Post by 999900000999 »

djmips wrote: post #6

Another hunch that I have is that as you get older you tend to have less unique experiences. I believe our brains compress the information and an entire day that was much like the previous day can just feel like it sped by quickly. Alternatively, if you go on vacation or change your routine then time will slow down as you process a lot of new information.

I'll definitely agree with this, I'd advise anyone who's not tied down to routinely go on vacations, and even consider moving.

Staying in old routines is comfortable, but to use myself as an example if I just stayed in la complaining about how horrible the city is, I'm robbing myself of a fuller life.

My plan right now is to move abroad for at least a few months or so. I really need to change up things

Re: Why time “speeds up” as we get older (2019)

#86

Post by GuB-42 »

djmips wrote: post #6

Another hunch that I have is that as you get older you tend to have less unique experiences. I believe our brains compress the information and an entire day that was much like the previous day can just feel like it sped by quickly. Alternatively, if you go on vacation or change your routine then time will slow down as you process a lot of new information.

The original article is inaccessible for me but it depends on the experimental protocol.

What "speeds up"? Looking at a clock ticking doing nothing? Eating breakfast? Waiting in line? Watching a movie? An international flight? Memories of a typical work/school day? Memories of a two week vacation? And relative to what? You can't say something "speeds up" without a reference.

For example you can ask : "What feels the longest, a day at Disneyland, or the 8h drive to get there?". And you will probably get different answers based on the context.

Our body doesn't have a single clock, and BTW, neither do computers, so the transmission delay between neurons and the amount of new experiences can each explain a different kind of "speed up".

Re: Why time “speeds up” as we get older (2019)

#87

Post by BiteCode_dev »

I have an alternative (although unproven) theory.

I have been practicing meditation for 15 years, sometimes in batch of 100 hours.

The more I practice, the more the time slows down. Not just while meditating, but after the fact as well. Although it fluctuates and I'm not back to my kid self, it feels that I have tremendously more time now than a few years ago.

I suspect that it's tied to how much present you manage to be.

When you are a kid, you are deeply immersed in whatever you are doing, and less and less so after that, especially in our age of distractions, multitasking, and intellectual work loads.

I think that the more you are immersed in the daily boring stuff, like just walking, doing chores, or taking your shower, the more you register the time you spend doing said activity, and the time seems to pass slowly.

In fact, I am sometimes under the impression my minutes, not just feel longer, but actually contain more, because I do so many things and then looking at the clock, it hasn't moved much. This sensation increases when I meditate a lot.

Re: Why time “speeds up” as we get older (2019)

#88

Post by aequitas »

djmips wrote: post #6

Another hunch that I have is that as you get older you tend to have less unique experiences. I believe our brains compress the information and an entire day that was much like the previous day can just feel like it sped by quickly. Alternatively, if you go on vacation or change your routine then time will slow down as you process a lot of new information.

Regarding vacation or trips in general for me it still feels going by fast and less special as I get older. I recon it has to do with that in the past vacations and trips would be planned for me (by my parents) so everything was a surprise and a discovery. Nowadays I have to plan everything for my family, so I do a lot of research regarding where to go, what to do, what will be most fun. So there is less of a surprise for me in case things do go as planned (like an attraction being closed or not as fun as it would seem). But this also means there is less room for me to be surprised and discover.

Re: Why time “speeds up” as we get older (2019)

#90

Post by cassianoleal »

ASalazarMX wrote: post #79
gmfawcett wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a much more compelling argument than the article's.

This is my impression as well. Old people who have settled in a routine can tell what year and month it is, but probably have a harder time telling the day or weekday. For them, all days are weekends. You don't even need to be old to feel this. I've had vacations where I mostly played JRPGs, and those vacations certainly felt considerably shorter.

JRPGs, as well as the Civ games, are time compressors. You blink and 5 hours have passed.
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