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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

#241

Post by dougmwne »

sneed_chucker wrote: post #240
dougmwne wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together;) I did make a choice, and it didn’t involve all that much luck beyond what everyone here has, a lucky break in a good career and a high income birth country. Actually there was bad luck, my partner and I were laid off at the same time. Sometimes the good comes from the bad. I don’t think I am better or worse, but I do push myself always to experience new th…

> Having biological children always struck me as very egocentric. How else should people have children? Someone's genes are required, even if you do it in a test tube.

I guess I have a different perspective since having children naturally is not in my cards. Needing the child to be genetically related to me through IVF vs. adopting always seemed a bit self centered.

Re: Why time seems to pass faster as we age

#242

Post by richrichie »

Let T be the life span and t be the age. Let s = T - t.

Remark 1: dt / s is small when t is small.

Remark 2: Perception of s (call it p) is in reality a function of t. For small t, p(t) is perceived to be near infinity. For t > 40, p(t) rapidly decays to a small number.

Re: Why time seems to pass faster as we age

#243

Post by pizzafeelsright »

GuB-42 wrote: post #65
pizzafeelsright wrote: post #11

Pain extends time. Pleasure decreases it. Do things that are painful. Find pleasure in the painful like discipline and stuff that is uncomfortable.

That's not my experience. Intense pain makes time feel longer, but it is the same for all intense experiences. And I am not even sure about that, endorphines can make time fly. And when I consider memories, pleasurable events tend to take more time in my mind, pain tend to get erased more than pleasure. For example, I don't remember much about sick days, though obviously uncomfortable, they don't take much subjective…

Memories that are recorded have an initial depth and upon retrieving the memory, the depth gets deeper. Trivial events, with little reason to recall, are forgotten.

This explains how trauma and ptsd can create terrible feedback loops.

Having lived through a somewhat damaging childhood I have chosen to not recall the unpleasant memories and have forgotten them.

Re: Why time seems to pass faster as we age

#244

Post by crossroadsguy »

Der_Einzige wrote: post #200
crossroadsguy wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What instruments are relatively easier to play?

People who are saying "Guitar" or "Piano" don't play insturments. The cello: 1. You're literally sitting when you play, whereas many violinists, violists, and bass players have to stand. 2. Big enough strings to not cause a player to develop callouses, no pain/bleeding. 3. Almost always only play one string at a time - no knowledge needed of chords. 4. Until you get ultra good, you will only need to learn 1 clef, and…

A friend learns Piano and she has tried some instruments. She told me cello and violin are one of the most difficult to even begin. But I will explore this.

Re: Why time seems to pass faster as we age

#245

Post by [deleted] »

simpletone wrote: post #82
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…

> reviewing old entries provides a feeling of history that makes life feel soooo long and so rich. This doesn't sound right at all. For me, and I suspect for most people, it has the opposite effect. It makes life feel short, fleeting and mundane. Looking back to 2014, I can't believe how quickly the past 10 years has gone. Heck just looking back 4 years, the pandemic years seems to have flown by. It's like a distant…

[deleted]

Re: Why time seems to pass faster as we age

#246

Post by theodric »

david-gpu wrote: post #121
theodric wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Life is long, provided you don't just waste your time with nonsense. Even eternity wouldn't be long enough for the compulsive procrasturbator.

> Life is long, provided you don't just waste your time with nonsense. Even eternity wouldn't be long enough for the compulsive procrasturbator. Is it possible you are projecting your own insecurities, given that you are commenting on HN during work hours on a weekday, of all things?

I retired from tech, and it's the off-season on the farm.

Re: Why time seems to pass faster as we age

#247

Post by theodric »

simpletone wrote: post #98
theodric wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Life is long, provided you don't just waste your time with nonsense. Even eternity wouldn't be long enough for the compulsive procrasturbator.

> Life is long, provided you don't just waste your time with nonsense. Life is short whether you waste it on nonsense or not. It's the nature of human life. > Even eternity wouldn't be long enough for the compulsive procrasturbator. Sure. But eternity isn't enough for the most accomplished either. There is a reason why the emperor of china https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/2000-year-old-text... and steve jobs…

Disagree. Set realistic goals, achieve them, and finish your life satisfied that you've done what you set out to do. Constantly demanding more is a recipe for being unsatisfiable.

If I died today, I'd do so happy that I checked off the most important things on my list. I gain nothing by adding another 100 things to the list just so I can say that life is too short. It's long enough for what I want to do; anything more is a bonus.

Re: Why time seems to pass faster as we age

#248

Post by larve »

skeeter2020 wrote: post #213
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 :(

I’m 42. I don’t care too much about progress, and Covid has nuked my lungs. I was lucky to be born with great endurance genetics. I mostly care about riding long and discovering new parts in nature on my gravel bike.

Re: Why time seems to pass faster as we age

#249

Post by Aerbil313 »

simpletone wrote: post #82
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…

> reviewing old entries provides a feeling of history that makes life feel soooo long and so rich. This doesn't sound right at all. For me, and I suspect for most people, it has the opposite effect. It makes life feel short, fleeting and mundane. Looking back to 2014, I can't believe how quickly the past 10 years has gone. Heck just looking back 4 years, the pandemic years seems to have flown by. It's like a distant…

> Life is precious because it is short and fleeting.

Here's another viewpoint. Life is not precious at all because it is short and fleeting. Muslim here. We believe only the parts of this life which pertain to afterlife are precious, as afterlife is eternal instead of temporary. This life is merely an end to a means. It doesn't need to be a goal in and of itself because there's another life after it.

Re: Why time seems to pass faster as we age

#250

Post by icedchai »

Apreche wrote: post #8

This is one of those things that seems true, but is it? They’ve presented no evidence whatsoever. Even the question itself carries with it an assumption. Does time seem to pass faster as we age? I bet you could find some people for whom it does not.

I definitely feel it. I'm sure some people do not, and they are lucky. My recent perception has been distorted by the pandemic years and resulting working-from-home. WFH created a monotony I never realized was possible. Time had sped up, in general, though some days (especially Mondays) drag on forever...
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