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Why time seems to pass faster as we age

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Re: Why time seems to pass faster as we age

#181

Post by quickthrower2 »

Madmallard wrote: post #147
larve wrote: post #118

One thing I love about the speedup of time is that picking a compounding habit (say, doing something for 10 minutes each day) feels like having an almost instant pay-off. "Oh wow 3 years already passed" -> "Oh wow I got pretty good at this thing I picked up just yesterday" I picked up biking during the pandemic, and 3 years later I have legs of steel, 10k miles under my belt, and people know me as "the bike guy", whe…

It kinda sucks that you learn much slower when you’re older though. I’ve been practicing piano an hour or two a day for 7 months and I don’t really feel like I’ve improved at all. I was intermediate when I started and I am taking professional lessons. Mid 30s here.

You probably improved alot. Is there an objective test. If that test can be rescaled by a function to linear based on average person’s time even better.

Re: Why time seems to pass faster as we age

#182

Post by themagician »

nerder92 wrote: post #159

One very simple explanation I’ve read is that time perception (as time itself) is relative. Time goes slower when you are a child because your perception of time is relative to the totality of time you’ve experienced. So for instance, when you go from 1 to 2yrs old, it’s double the amount of your entire life, but from 80 to 81 it’s just a small fraction. Not sure if this has been proven or is even possible to prove.

“Life is short and life is long, but not in that order.”

https://youtu.be/SNgyEmYyQF4

Re: Why time seems to pass faster as we age

#183

Post by Hendrikto »

Spooky23 wrote: post #141
fufufu123 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're apparently in a good place so looking back is your path to your joyful present. I'm in a bad place so looking back is my seeing back when I was still hopeful for my various life goals. I'd meet someone and have someone to share my life with, do activities with, travel with, raise kids with, etc. I never met that person and now at 60+ that's nearly impossible so looking back hurts. It hurts a-lot. Seeing the op…

My situation is different. I lost the love of my life and felt lost and alone. Even with the support of good friends and family. But that said, there’s alot of philosophy and other things to help. Aeschylus said “Happiness is a choice that requires effort at times.” Another relevant quote is that the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the next best is today. You won’t get what you wanted, but live in the pre…

Sorry for you loss and thanks for the advice. I like the Aeschylus quote, it‘s a good one.

Re: Why time seems to pass faster as we age

#184

Post by bibliotekka »

nerder92 wrote: post #159

One very simple explanation I’ve read is that time perception (as time itself) is relative. Time goes slower when you are a child because your perception of time is relative to the totality of time you’ve experienced. So for instance, when you go from 1 to 2yrs old, it’s double the amount of your entire life, but from 80 to 81 it’s just a small fraction. Not sure if this has been proven or is even possible to prove.

I thought I watched a Vsauce video that debunked this idea. Instead they suggested it was the fact that adults have fewer novel experiences than children. In other words, have lots of new experiences and time seems to extend. Something about the brain storing "same" in some kind of compressed time memory slot.

Oh yeah, found it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHL9GP_B30E

Re: Why time seems to pass faster as we age

#185

Post by red369 »

MyFirstSass wrote: post #142
stared wrote: post #6

There is already a body of research on the perception of time as a function of age, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_perception#Changes_with_a... . It stems from a few things, and novelty is only one factor. (Also, it is not only that the world begins (to us) as full of novelty, but also most people gradually transition from exploration to exploitation.) In addition to remembering previous events, there is also…

The ticks per second thing is very interesting because of a something weird i encountered the other day - i suddenly realised seconds are WAY faster than they used to be. I play music so have a pretty good feel for rhythm and i distinctly remember the clock in a family members house ticking each second being way, way slower as a kid. Slept there the other day and it was fast as hell. So incredibly weird. I'm sure my…

Now that you mention it, I think have noticed this too, but perhaps not to quite the same extent.

Sort of joking, but sort of not, they seem to go pretty slowly while doing an exercise like the plank

Re: Why time seems to pass faster as we age

#187

Post by julienmarie »

boredemployee wrote: post #156
Madmallard wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It kinda sucks that you learn much slower when you’re older though. I’ve been practicing piano an hour or two a day for 7 months and I don’t really feel like I’ve improved at all. I was intermediate when I started and I am taking professional lessons. Mid 30s here.

learning curve of the piano is crazy. and if you stop playing you go back to zero really really fast

I quite disagree. Started to learn extremely young (3 years old) and I guess my relationship with the instrument became second nature.

I feel there is a kind of threshold that you cross at some point and then, the skill becomes part of you, forever engraved. You know you're there when you can play the piano without a piano, just in your head and in the tingle of your muscles. When you do not need a rational stage like a score or even a piece to play. You just play what you feel.

I don't play that often now, maybe 30 mins to an hour once every two or three days. My technique is not as good as it used to be. But my understanding of music, harmony and emotion is deeper. My music is better now than when I was at my peak as a technician, because as a human being, I matured.

Re: Why time seems to pass faster as we age

#188

Post by nunez »

jvanderbot wrote: post #17

I've been journalling for 10+ years. In addition to forcing me to actually write down what happened that day, reviewing old entries provides a feeling of history that makes life feel soooo long and so rich. I can review my now-wife's rocky courtship and feel grateful we made it. I looked back 3 years ago and found the day our children were conceived :D (we have twins). I can review the anxieties of my PhD years, etc…

Same. Journaling adds another dimension to my memories that makes them even richer and more enjoyable. It also prevents me from forgetting memories, which I'm very prone to doing!

I started journaling back in 2012 (or 1999 depending on whether you count a Pokemon notebook that I barely wrote in!). I used to handwrite my journal entries. I refused to type them because they didn't feel personal enough.

How foolish of me that was.

I discovered Daylio while looking for a mood journal back in 2021. It's easily one of the best apps I've ever purchased. I've journaled daily since getting it, and it (with therapy) helped me understand and better control my introversion and mood swings.

I eventually moved all of those entries over to Day One two months ago. Day One is even better. You can add recordings! From your Apple Watch! And everything syncs nicely via iCloud! No more talking into the ether!

Re: Why time seems to pass faster as we age

#189

Post by iwontberude »

Seems like time goes the same for me. I don’t ever do the same thing each day, I don’t keep a routine or show up consistently and sort of follow my interests and they change constantly. This makes me utterly incompatible with most people but I kind of like this more, I want to enjoy life as it comes. I am in no rush.
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