Why time “speeds up” as we get older (2019) • Hacker News Board

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

#51

Post by handrous » Thu, Nov 04, 2021, 5:04 PM UTC

necrotic_comp wrote: post #4

I really don't feel this at all. I am constantly doing new things, constantly learning things, and time feels like it stretches on forever. I'm over 40, so this isn't the effect of me just starting my career. 10 years ago feels 10 years ago, and this effect of time speeding up just doesn't register with me.

That's crazy. I'm coming up on 40 and I'd say a year feels maybe as long as three months did, when I was 18. If that long.

Having kids seemed to increase the effect markedly, but it was already there.

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

#52

Post by Wowfunhappy » Thu, Nov 04, 2021, 5:04 PM UTC

bwanab wrote: post #22

WillPostForFood wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is kind of horrifying though - it is in your face evidence of cognitive decline.

Right, and as a long term participant in this realm, I can definitely say that the speeding up is far greater than any cognitive decline I’ve had so far. To be sure - since it’s certainly possible that one wouldn’t notice one’s own decline, I do online courses periodically to 1) learn new stuff and 2) assure myself that the decline isn’t yet too severe.

> I can definitely say that the speeding up is far greater than any cognitive decline I’ve had so far.

"Cognitive decline" is probably the wrong way to think about it. Your cognition changes as you age.

When you're young, you're inundated with lots of information. You can process that information quickly, but you don't know which signals are important.

As you age, you learn what information is important, and what can be filtered out. So even if you're slower, your brain can work more efficiently. It also knows how to take shortcuts.

...at least, that's what I remember reading in my college Psychology textbook five years ago, and it jives with the current article.

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

#53

Post by Mikeb85 » Thu, Nov 04, 2021, 5:05 PM UTC

Dunno about that. I'm a bit over 30 and feel like I'm 80 mentally (physically I'm as fit as I was in my 20's and still as energetic). I was always told that time perception would speed up but it really hasn't.

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

#54

Post by ww520 » Thu, Nov 04, 2021, 5:05 PM UTC

djmips wrote: 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.

Our brains also filters lots of uninterested stuff automatically. When we’re young, many things are interesting. We spend lots of time processing them and it feels like time goes slowly as we have to “experience” these things fully. As we grew older, lots of things have been experienced and known. The brains recognize the known patterns and just filter them out. The brains are probably micro sleep all time while idling saving energy, and the time keeping is off.

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

#55

Post by handrous » Thu, Nov 04, 2021, 5:05 PM UTC

c22 wrote: post #34

endisneigh wrote: post #10

If true, how do you fight this without actually going on more unique experiences? I like to think there are some weird swirly images or static noise I can watch/listen to while going about my life that will "novelize" everything. hah.

Have you tried LSD?

I haven't tried it (yet), but know people who use it largely for that exact effect.

[EDIT] the effect of making an hour hour or an afternoon feel as long as they did when you were, like, 6 years old, I mean.

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

#56

Post by eslaught » Thu, Nov 04, 2021, 5:05 PM UTC

I don't see anyone in this thread discussing sleep.

At least anecdotally, I know a lot of people who get worse sleep as they get older. Sleep quality is, if I'm not mistaken, at least indirectly correlated with memory. So it seems reasonable to believe, in addition to everything else people are saying here, that one possible reason time flies by is that we don't get the sleep to make those memories stick.

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

#57

Post by spaetzleesser » Thu, Nov 04, 2021, 5:07 PM UTC

djmips wrote: 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.

That's my theory too. In your first 20-30 years there are so many new things to keep your mind busy. Different schools, driver's license, first car, first time seeing a movie, first time seeing a concert, first relationships, first break up, moving out, travel, first job, children and so on. At some point it all becomes a repeat. I feel a lot of movies are just a repeat of what I have seen 30 years ago. Same for music. I can go to India for the fifth time but it's not the same excitement and amount of new experiences as the first time.

I don't know how to get out of this. I can't think of any truly new things to do. Maybe I could go to jail or win Wimbledon? These would be truly new :-)

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

#58

Post by ur-whale » Thu, Nov 04, 2021, 5:08 PM UTC

The hypothesis that our brain "slows down" does not really require a biological / chemical / physical explanation to be proven correct.

All it takes it looking at how fast folks take to [solve problems / write an essay / read through a book / grok a new concept / learn a new skill] after a certain age.

This is certainly measurable and IMO rather easy to, if only when applying it to yourself when you're past your prime (I know I am).

And jumping from that rather easy to establish fact to a perception of time going faster is not exactly a stretch.

In short ... unless they've invented new ways to measure the deterioration of the brain with age and accurately correlate it with information processing capabilities, I'm not seeing much of an insight from this article.

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

#59

Post by spaetzleesser » Thu, Nov 04, 2021, 5:09 PM UTC

tralarpa wrote: post #50

djmips wrote: 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.

> Another hunch that I have is that as you get older you tend to have less unique experiences I have read that explanation several times on different websites, but I don't agree. Had a lot of new and unique things happening to me in the past decade (kids, moving, new job, new country,...). Times still flew. I have talked to friends about this and they have noticed the same thing.

How old are you? These were new but now a new job or a new country is also a repeat. It gets harder and harder to find truly new things.

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

#60

Post by dang » Thu, Nov 04, 2021, 5:12 PM UTC

I know there have been multiple threads on this general theme in the past, but time has sped up enough that I can't remember what they were, and it's not the easiest thing to search for. Anybody?