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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

#211

Post by treflop »

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.

Maybe you just plateaued?

I’ve noticed practicing something over and over does not make you better. It just makes you faster at doing something you already know how to do.

Trying a new approach when you practice is what I find actually makes you better.

Re: Why time seems to pass faster as we age

#212

Post by ehnto »

dakial1 wrote: post #120
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…

Yes, and one thing you can do is doing something/everything different everyday, but the downside of this is that you'll get fatigue out of keeping your brain on alert all the time. I observed this with people traveling, I used to call travel cognitive impairment, as usually functional human beings (like my close relatives) suddenly get very lost and helpless during travel (specially at airports). I then realized that…

I am travelling right now, freeform exploration of another country is full of novelty. It feels like I have been here for a month but it has only been two weeks.

The downside is I am exhausted. I also couldn't imagine doing any of my work while travelling even if I had a computer with me. There is downtime enough to do some, but I don't think I'd have the capacity to engage with it. I think advanced abstract thinking relies on a bit of cognitive room being created by routine. Perhaps that is at the consequence of the routine moments disappearing into a void of compressed time.

Re: Why time seems to pass faster as we age

#213

Post by skeeter2020 »

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…

how old are you know? I've continued to pursue biking quite aggressively and now at 50 find the speed of progression and the ability to recover much slower. Right when I have more time and money than ever before :(

Re: Why time seems to pass faster as we age

#214

Post by Qem »

rstuart4133 wrote: post #144

I have a simpler theory. The apparent speed of the passage of time is inversely proportion the number of memories being accumulated. I don't remember what it was like to be a toddler. All I can tell you is "they are sponges" is a common description. It blows me away they can learn how to recognise faces, walk, speak a language in the space of a few years. As a kid I recall getting bored very easily. I needed a consta…

> I have a simpler theory. The apparent speed of the passage of time is inversely proportion the number of memories being accumulated.

I had this same realization. In other words, our internal clock is not like a mechanical, or a quartz watch, with seconds flowing at a constant rate. It's more like a hourglass or a clepsydra, but instead of sand/water, the flow is of bits of information from the world into the brain. As in a hourglass, near the end the flow is weaker (learning is much slower as an adult than as a child), and the same amount of physical time corresponds to much less sand (subjective time).

Re: Why time seems to pass faster as we age

#216

Post by skeeter2020 »

treflop wrote: post #211
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.

Maybe you just plateaued? I’ve noticed practicing something over and over does not make you better. It just makes you faster at doing something you already know how to do. Trying a new approach when you practice is what I find actually makes you better.

I typically promote the little book of talent in this scenario. Sure, it's all common sense, but distilled and focused on this specific scenario.

https://www.amazon.com/Little-Book-Talent-Improving-Skills/d...

Re: Why time seems to pass faster as we age

#217

Post by skeeter2020 »

navane wrote: post #161
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.

You might need a teacher. Biking is all endurance, piano involves a bit more.

>> Biking is all endurance

If you're riding a Peloton I guess, but not a real bike in any of the many disciplines.

Re: Why time seems to pass faster as we age

#218

Post by skeeter2020 »

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

not back to zero, but IME back to some previous, steady state.

Re: Why time seems to pass faster as we age

#219

Post by munchler »

I think long periods of time are experienced logarithmically, with a base of around 2. So the period from, say, 10 to 20 years is comparable to the period from 20 to 40 years, and then 40 to 80 years. The seasons really start to zoom by at my age. (I'm in my late 50's.)
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