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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)

#121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

God, really? I can't take those for more than 1h at a time usually. Except Chrono Trigger I guess. Any recommendations?

JRPGs? The Persona series is quite interesting, good story telling; Xenoblade Chronicles 1 and 2 are both very good; NieR Automata is a great action RPG set in a dystopic future; the old school Zeldas, the original Phantasy Star...

I admit, they're all an acquired taste in many ways but once you get into it and stop minding the complexity in some of them, they can suck you in and move you out of time.

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

#122
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.

[deleted]

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

#123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might correct that to "people who don't work" instead of "old people".

Not necessarily. People who don't work aren't necessarily living boring lives.

Just pointing out a bit of inadvertent ageism.

And I definitely wasn't implying they live boring lives. My spouse for example doesn't work, and in fact is quite busy with an impressive garden landscape. She doesn't always know what day it is, because it doesn't usually matter.

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

#124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

God, really? I can't take those for more than 1h at a time usually. Except Chrono Trigger I guess. Any recommendations?

Chrono Trigger is an excellent game! Maybe Chrono Cross (PS1) if you want to play a sequel.

Other classics are Dragon Warrior IV for the NES, and Phantasy star IV for the Sega Genesis. No need to play the previous ones.

My other recommendation is using an emulator to give you unlimited money and experience. The gameplay is ruined, but the storytelling is more fluid, and you'll save many hours.

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

#125
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 agree completely!

Time seeming to speed up isn't a visual phenomena! I don't see people walking faster. People are not talking faster.

It is in recall of recent times, not in the moment, that we feel like time is going by faster.

And your point explains that.

We tend to have fewer memories of recent time, because we had fewer unique experiences relative to when we were young and almost every day was full of new experiences and new things to learn.

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

#126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not necessarily. People who don't work aren't necessarily living boring lives.

Just pointing out a bit of inadvertent ageism. And I definitely wasn't implying they live boring lives. My spouse for example doesn't work, and in fact is quite busy with an impressive garden landscape. She doesn't always know what day it is, because it doesn't usually matter.

I think I was unintentionally ageist, sorry. I'm fifty myself, it wasn't deliberate.

Also, a routine doesn't necessarily gets boring, you're right. I was thinking of a university friend of mine. He didn't work, only studied for finals, and had a very interesting life with little money. Somehow he didn't flunk.

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

#127
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 also think this is a quite reasonable. For some work on this beyond anecdotal evidence, see https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/jo... . The authors' main finding (in rats and humans) is that the perception of the intensity of a stimulus relates to the perception of its duration, i.e. more intense stimuli are perceived as longer lasting. A speculation beyond the specific study would be that more intense experience generally (perhaps due to the saliency of more unique life events) could lead to a slowed down perception of time.

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

#128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not necessarily. People who don't work aren't necessarily living boring lives.

Just pointing out a bit of inadvertent ageism. And I definitely wasn't implying they live boring lives. My spouse for example doesn't work, and in fact is quite busy with an impressive garden landscape. She doesn't always know what day it is, because it doesn't usually matter.

It's not ageism to recognise the negatives of age... jesus christ.

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

#130
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.

Also with increasing responsibilities of childcare and work you don't really even get time to be bored. I get max 2-3 hours per day for "myself" and half of that means just doing doing chores.
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