Why Does Time Fly as We Get Older?

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/mind-guest-blog/2013/12/18/why-does-time-fly-as-we-get-older/

by yagibear • 13 years ago

13 9 13 years ago

blogs.scientificamerican.com

jamesbritt• 13 years ago

One experience I find amazing and frustrating at the same time: While on vacation or otherwise traveling and doing something fairly novel, each day feels long. The minute I am on the plane to fly back home the whole thing feels like it zipped by.

swayvil• 13 years ago

I think it's because we spend more time in our head. This might also explain why our body withers.

jfernandez• 13 years ago

The article's second bullet visualized in a clear/simple manner: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNILpXWNirY

rdtsc• 13 years ago

I noticed this as a teenager. And came up with the "ratio" theory on my own.

For example, I was thinking, when I was young (say 7 years old), summers seemed to have dragged along forever. Summer vacation was a loooong time. By the time I was in the 8th grade, it seemed to fly by.

So the idea goes by like this:

* We measure time interval compared to the number of intervals we have already experienced.

* For one 1 year old each new month is a 1/12 of their life-time, so it seems like a pretty long time.

* For a 80 year old, 1 month is 1/960 of their lifetime. A new month, will fly by because it is a much shorter time.

* To have the same subjective experience of a month passing, an 80 year old would need to spend 6+ years or so (80/12)

* To have the same subjective experience as an 80 year old's month, a 1 year old would just wait for about half a day to pass by.

Totally bogus idea probably, but I was proud of myself for figuring it out on my own back then.

skiplecariboo• 13 years ago

I had the exact same thought when i was like 10 y-o :)

collyw2• 13 years ago

Me too, not sure what age though.

Yaa101• 13 years ago

I think not as bogus as you think.

We all have a biological clock ticking seconds since epoch(birth) much like a unix computer.

Time outside your head is compared with time inside your head.

So yes, at 50 an outside year is only 1/50th measured in seconds compared with the current total number of seconds inside your head.

jcutrell• 13 years ago

The way I have found to really get the most out of my minutes is to trick my brain into processing a new thing.

This really is fundamentally a new way of thinking, but if you do something different every day, you are tripping up the "caching" functions your brain optimizes your day with, giving you a tiring but rewarding memory of 24 hours rather than what seems like an echo of a previous experience.

collyw2• 13 years ago

I have read similar theories before, and I think there is some truth in it, but it depends how you define "different".

I noticed this when I started working for a well known mobile manufacturer a while back. We got handed new phones maybe every month. At first it was great, playing about with new features (this is almost ten years ago). Then eventually you realize that it is more of the same - you play with the new feature for ten minutes, get bored and never use it again. Just like Movies feel to me these days (occasionally one stands out but less than once a year). In fact many aspects of our consumer lifestyle, seems like we are getting something new / different, when it is just a novelty rehash of the same stuff.

I find this great for rejecting materialism to a large degree (I still enjoy new toys a bit. I don't get excited about the latest Samsung / iPhone launch - in fact I find it depressing that a phone will make the front pages of the news).

This doesn't help in making time seem to go faster or slower (well hopefully it will help me not make the assumption that something "novelty" is something "different"). I guess there is a subtlety in the language here. I find that certain things are "more of the same" and can bring about lasting memories. I enjoy whitewater kayaking, and when I do a memorable trip on a new river, or even the same river with more water (usually makes it more exciting) then I am far more likely to have good memories stored than from a new movie, or buying a new laptop. Sometimes just the circumstances on the day make for good memories. Looking back on consumer purchases, the memories are rarely up to much.

Not quite sure of the point I was making, ("novelty" and "different" are different things) but my rant certainly got me thinking......

Why Does Time Fly as We Get Older?

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