Children and Helical Time

The graph is just to clearly convey the idea, not to give it any more connotation of rigor than the idea itself has. The idea has a long enough history and enough research behind it to be in psychology textbooks and be referenced on Wikipedia, but it seems to resonate for some people and not others. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_perception#:~:text=Propor...

Every assertion in this article is completely alien to me to the point that I can not even comprehend that people live like that, it seems untenable to life to me. A year did not feel like a fifth of my life when I was 5, I could not even comprehend a year in that sense and very much lived in the present. Now in my 40s I don't see a year as just another year and still don't think of it as one 45th of my life. When I was 5 I saw where I was, now I see how far I have come and how far I have to go; all that has really changed is that I have come to understand how the past and the future define the present instead of just accepting that this is what I am currently experiencing, I understand cause and effect, consequence.

Does this article seem accurate to your perception of life? It would explain some things regarding my interactions with most people if I am so completely missing something so fundemental about their existence.

Edit: Why does conveying my experience and desiring to understand the experience of others get a downvote? Genuinely curious.

Edit the second: I just started to wonder if this article is going to affect my birthday in a couple weeks. Part of me feels like I am going to think "well that is 1/46th of my life gone" and have a midlife crisis. The other part of me remembers Zeno and his paradox and giggles.

Isn't the general principle sound? That novel experiences become rarer as we get older, leading subjective life to be highly skewed towards youth.

My best and “longest” memories are from a two year period spent in the university when I had earned some money in internships and could live with few obligations.

That was the happiest I’ve ever been.

Childhood is mostly blocked out (abusive parents, poverty), and adulthood is mostly work.

Maybe we just remember the periods when we’ve been happy. It would make sense evolutionarily.

I'm 22 and since late college things don't excite me the way they used to, even when I enjoy them. I sometimes wonder if this is what happens when people get older and happened to me early, or if it's just a personality trait.

The 'vicarious firsts' framing doesn't quite land for me because of that, but the 'urgency that won't let you drift' observation resonates. Maybe what matters isn't renewed wonder but having something -- family, friends, caring about the world -- that demands presence. The forcing function matters more than the feelings themselves.

My dad always says something related in nature: caring about and loving your family makes you a better person more than it helps your family.