Time flies, perception of time as we age

I read that time in the moment (and future time thereafter*) is a percentage relative relationship to time that has already passed.

For example, for an eight year old kid, a day in their life is 1/2920 which is 0.034% whereas for a fifty year old it's 1/18250 or 0.0055%. The former relative percentage is much larger than the latter and so feels much quicker.

*and forever getting shorter.

edit - former and latter lost in the mindfudge!
 
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Probably due to the end being closer and closer.
Gets harder to do stuff due to health etc.

I try to keep busy. Use my money for holidays etc. Build a catalog of memories.

Even under 40 I know my "active" years are reducing all the time. And the waste I did in my 30s particularly bites.


"Make most of time. Or time will waste you."
 
moon man said:
I was always told this would happen but its getting scary now, like the films where the spaceship hits hyperdrive or whatever.
So every day does get shorter in relation to your total lifespan but the days months years are flying past, my Nan used to start collecting xmas money in a tin in January and i always thought this was ridicules, the school summer holidays felt so amazingly long.
So how do you slow down time ? get really board ? get up really early to compensate ?
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the reason is most people think as you get older you will have less to do so time goes slowly and you chill. the reality is as you get older you get more responsibilities and more things to do. so you have less time .
 
~>Dg<~ said:
the reason is most people think as you get older you will have less to do so time goes slowly and you chill. the reality is as you get older you get more responsibilities and more things to do. so you have less time .
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not sure about that in my case as i have been of work since last mid October, been busy with walking ect but my mind tends to be very busy, i cant sit in the day and watch Netflix or sit and listen to music, i guess these types of activity are a measure of time if you get my drift
 
moon man said:
I was always told this would happen but its getting scary now, like the films where the spaceship hits hyperdrive or whatever.
So every day does get shorter in relation to your total lifespan but the days months years are flying past, my Nan used to start collecting xmas money in a tin in January and i always thought this was ridicules, the school summer holidays felt so amazingly long.
So how do you slow down time ? get really board ? get up really early to compensate ?
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Get active and motivated and happy.

Times passing is how much you remember its a retrospective thing. The more depressed you are the less you remember the faster things go.

The fuller and more happy your life the more you remember the less "blur" in your memory and so the longer time feels.
 
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moon man said:
not sure about that in my case as i have been of work since last mid October, been busy with walking ect but my mind tends to be very busy, i cant sit in the day and watch Netflix or sit and listen to music, i guess these types of activity are a measure of time if you get my drift
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i cant normally sit doing nothing. gotta do something you have to keep yourself active brain and body regardless of age. if ive done nothing in a day it feels like a waste. so always try and achieve " something " each day.
 
I think it is all an illusion because you experience so many things for the "first" time when you are young by the time you get to your thirties you have already seen a lot so you tend not to remember as much giving the illusion of time going faster.

My grandad was still working till 78 through choice and was still very active all the way to 90.

I am in my late 30's and as long as I stay fit and healthy I still have good 40-50 years of good living. I am looking forward to that.

It is weird thinking that GTA:SA, HL2 and World of Warcraft will be 20 years old this year!

To think also in those 20 years I have learnt many skills, been to many places and also had 2 beautiful children and have a place of my own that I can call home. I look forward to the next 20 years seeing my future grandchildren and what else life might bring.
 
Rroff said:
As above novelty has a huge impact on perception of time, also having your affairs in order so to speak - if you are doing the same thing day after day and got a lot of outstanding stuff which you are putting off dealing with, etc. it tends to make the years roll into each other.
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I think work and responsibilities is the issue there, it's incredibly hard to move away from it being a chore to an pleasurable experience.

Not lazing about and getting on with doing stuff is certainly the most positive impact one can do as mentioned already.
 
Jack_green said:
It was something to do with visual image it slower as we age or something like that.
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Yep been doing some googling as i don't post and run ha ha and i think its a common thing rather than being a me thing , i mean if i get any more active i will be doing 2 marathons a day but it keeps being mentioned that i am maybe lazing around :p

https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2019/no-not-just-time-speeds-get-older/
i actually remember vaguely that i either posted or read this in another thread
 
I was kind of shocked when I saw the Despacito song is 7 years old now. It feels more like 3. I still remember that summer when it played on the radio constantly. Even though it got annoying it still defined that period of time in my mind.

That was when I used a car more and listened to the radio while commuting. Now I'm working from home, all the seasons seem to merge into one let alone the days and months.

I think the novelty theory has merit. I'd be interested to find out if VR changes things as it has a lot of potential for novel experiences.
 
It is thought to be how much information your brain is processing that is new. Your brain gathers more when situations are new. This in turn is perceived as slowing down time when you think about it later. The reason time speeds up when you get older is you are doing nothing new. If you want time to slow down you need to do things that you have never down before. It will help.
 
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arknor said:
I was in q car crash at fairly low speed when I was around 15 and time certainly stretched into slow motion as it happened.

I've always wondered what it must be like in a bad crash, like when a Rally car rolls over 10+ times in a row etc
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I think it's because the body puts out a huge surge of adrenaline (or some other neuro-impacting chemical, I have no idea about this stuff) in danger scenarios so your senses are massively heightened, hence things that are normally hard to follow at speed seem more comprehendable. You observe more detail than normal etc which makes it seem like time is slowing because instead of it taking a second to observe and process a million data points it only takes half a second or whatever. So your breain things "1m data points, that's a second of time" but in reality you are still waiting ages to hit 1 second.

It happens in gaming too, if you are playing an important official match you sometimes go into the Zone(tm) where you, to quote what a teammate from 20 years ago said, "feel time". It might make you a bit twitchy so not always great for mechanical skills but also it makes things feel like they are running at 85% speed, your reactions are improved, you have more time to think about your next move rather than being overwhelmed etc.
 
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I planned how I was going to retire when I was in my 20s and I've been working up until that moment ever since. I'm 45 now and I'm set to retire when I'm in my 50s. I see other people working in their late 60s and 70s. It's crazy. It's like their sole purpose in life is to serve others. I want to retire and see the world while I'm still fit and strong. Buy a one way plane ticket and not have to worry about getting back to the office by a certain date/time. I can't slow down my perception of time but I can certainly make the most of it and not waste a second. So many more people could do that if only they were sensible.
 
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Just LOL if you don't get your scientific research on theories of time from Andrew W.K. and if only so-called "scientists" would realise when it's time to party we will always party hard.

e: noobs.
 
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