Does time go by faster the more you age?

[778]

When I was young a year seemed like quite a long time, but now the years seem to go by faster the older I get. I was at school for 6 years and that seemed to take forever, but the last 6 years don't seem like that long at all and January 2023 only seems like a few weeks ago.

Is it something to do with the way the brain processes information that makes time appear to go faster as you age?

 

[THC]

Or the fact that every extra year lived represents a lesser proportion of total life each time. When we reach nineteen, the extra year to twenty is then five per cent of life lived to that point; when we reach forty nine, that extra year to 50 then represents but two per cent of the running total. Hence time appearing to pass more quickly as we age.

THC

 

[EmilyJEG]

Or the fact that every extra year lived represents a lesser proportion of total life each time...

This is a really interesting point - not a way I've ever looked at it before.

For me, another thing would be that as a child you're constantly learning new things so most days make quite an impact, even if you don't realise it at the time. As an adult, we're often stuck in monotonous routines, doing things we're very familiar with, and one day merges into the next.

I suppose it's a bit like driving - I passed my test last year and at first, every journey felt like a big deal. As time passes and I get more confident, the journeys are far more forgettable.

 

[BeijingDave]

I thought a weird time 'illusion' happened during COVID lockdown and work from home:

The individual days seemed to last longer. Yet 2020 went by really fast, maybe because nothing notable really happened in my social life (no important milestones).

 

[gordonthemoron]

Yes, except when you’ve broken your ankle and can’t walk for 6 weeks, I can’t believe it’s only been 11 days

 

[david1212]

To me it seems to.
Maybe different if for whatever reason there is less you are capable of doing i.e. just living from carer to carer visit, meal to meal etc.

Or the fact that every extra year lived represents a lesser proportion of total life each time. When we reach nineteen, the extra year to twenty is then five per cent of life lived to that point; when we reach forty nine, that extra year to 50 then represents but two per cent of the running total. Hence time appearing to pass more quickly as we age.

THC

.....
For me, another thing would be that as a child you're constantly learning new things so most days make quite an impact, even if you don't realise it at the time. As an adult, we're often stuck in monotonous routines, doing things we're very familiar with, and one day merges into the next.

Two interesting views.

 

[Bald Rick]

In a similar vein, My holidays always used to be 2 weeks onthe beach doign nothing. It seemed like the holiday was a long time, but then when I got home it felt like I’d barely been away. Then i did my first ‘travelling’ holiday - away for a month mostly in Australasia. Didnt stay anywhere more than 3 days, and did something different every day. The holiday whistled past, but when i got back it felt like I’d been away for years.

 

[YorkshireBear]

I thought a weird time 'illusion' happened during COVID lockdown and work from home:

The individual days seemed to last longer. Yet 2020 went by really fast, maybe because nothing notable really happened in my social life (no important milestones).

I had the exact same thing. Felt like years in lockdown, now I look back and time flew past.

I think it was the fight to survive, and by survive I don't mean COVID, to get by day to day and manage. That effort made the year go by fast but each day go desperately slow.

 

[Luke McDonnell]

I do notice this it does seem to be that the years go over faster as I age but as above I think it is due to increased life experience compared with my younger years but it could be just considered to be how my brain perceives the passage of time as compared to the physical rate of time - time does go by at a constant rate unless you take into the effects from special relativity in which you travel at a significant fraction of the velocity of light in which time will slow down in your frame of reference.

 

[Jamesrob637]

Time going fast isn't as much of an issue, as time spent unwisely (just sitting at home even in the warmer summer months etc.)

 

[3141]

Or the fact that every extra year lived represents a lesser proportion of total life each time. When we reach nineteen, the extra year to twenty is then five per cent of life lived to that point; when we reach forty nine, that extra year to 50 then represents but two per cent of the running total. Hence time appearing to pass more quickly as we age.

THC

That's an interesting explanation. Now that an extra year is 1.2% of my life so far things seem to be moving even faster!

I do notice this it does seem to be that the years go over faster as I age but as above I think it is due to increased life experience compared with my younger years but it could be just considered to be how my brain perceives the passage of time as compared to the physical rate of time - time does go by at a constant rate unless you take into the effects from special relativity in which you travel at a significant fraction of the velocity of light in which time will slow down in your frame of reference.

I think you're expressing in more scientific terms a related phenomenon to what I have felt, which is that as there are more and more past years piled up behind you it becomes more difficult to remember precisely what happened in a specific year that's now several decades ago. When I was younger I could easily recall in which year I went on a particular holiday, for instance.

 

[nw1]

When I was a child it seemed like an eternity to get from one Christmas to another, nowadays each year just flies past. It seems no time ago that it was spring.

I still can't get my head round the concept of the halfway point between the end of WWII and now being as late as 1984, either.

The difference between 1945 and 1984 seems a positive ocean, yet 1984 sometimes doesn't seem that long ago.

Similarly the concept of 1990 being nearer to 1958 than now also seems a completely bizarre concept. Same goes, in a slightly different way, with 2000 being nearer to 1978 than now: 2000 seems just like yesterday; 1978, while I have some memories of it, seems a long time ago.

 

[3141]

When I was a child it seemed like an eternity to get from one Christmas to another, nowadays each year just flies past. It seems no time ago that it was spring.

I still can't get my head round the concept of the halfway point between the end of WWII and now being as late as 1984, either.

The difference between 1945 and 1984 seems a positive ocean, yet 1984 sometimes doesn't seem that long ago.

Similarly the concept of 1990 being nearer to 1958 than now also seems a completely bizarre concept. Same goes, in a slightly different way, with 2000 being nearer to 1978 than now: 2000 seems just like yesterday; 1978, while I have some memories of it, seems a long time ago.

I think the time before we were born somehow seems especially remote.

In 1952, when I was 13, my grandmother gave me a London General Omnibus Company route map dated 1929 which she had found tucked between the pages of a book. This seemed ancient to me, though it was only ten years older than I was, a period of time less than my own age. Thirteen years later that bus map still seemed to me to be much older than my (then) 26 years. Even today, when I look at bus maps from the early 1950s, which I obtained when they were issued, they feel much less historical than the 1929 version.

 

[Howardh]

I had the exact same thing. Felt like years in lockdown, now I look back and time flew past.

I think it was the fight to survive, and by survive I don't mean COVID, to get by day to day and manage. That effort made the year go by fast but each day go desperately slow.

I kinda disagree with the first part, both lockdowns seemed to last a lifetime each with the brief period in the middle which did fly as I tried to make the most of it, holidays etc, even under restrictions.

Probably for me, however, was that I'd just retired and saw the first, and best, years of retirement slipping away (quickly... ironically!) while I was sat there doing sod all, knowing I wouldn't get that time back.

Fortunately I'm still in good health and solvent and as such making darned sure I don't miss a minute, especially as there's no guarantee another lockdown is around the corner.

 

[nw1]

I think the time before we were born somehow seems especially remote.

In 1952, when I was 13, my grandmother gave me a London General Omnibus Company route map dated 1929 which she had found tucked between the pages of a book. This seemed ancient to me, though it was only ten years older than I was, a period of time less than my own age. Thirteen years later that bus map still seemed to me to be much older than my (then) 26 years. Even today, when I look at bus maps from the early 1950s, which I obtained when they were issued, they feel much less historical than the 1929 version.

Indeed, the equivalent year to 1929 for me also seems distinctly historic, even though certain EMUs and locos that survived well into my adulthood had already been introduced then. But having said that, steam was still around 10 years before I was born and the concept of steam haulage on normal train services seems something from a completely different era.

 

[PeterY]

For me, time started to speed up when my daughter was born and that was 31 years ago. The only time, time slowed down was during the 3rd winter lockdown, that seemed to go on forever. As a person who keeps myself busy, probably makes time seem to pass by quicker.

 

[Jamesrob637]

For me, time started to speed up when my daughter was born and that was 31 years ago. The only time, time slowed down was during the 3rd winter lockdown, that seemed to go on forever. As a person who keeps myself busy, probably makes time seem to pass by quicker.

Passes by quicker, but you feel you've got more out of it. No kids myself at this stage, but they must make time fly by. One moment they're born, the next they're married etc.

 

[Bald Rick]

Passes by quicker, but you feel you've got more out of it. No kids myself at this stage, but they must make time fly by. One moment they're born, the next they're married etc.

Children are a bit of a time machine - as per your avatar!

 

[McRhu]

It's very true. The slower you travel and the faster time speeds up for you. When you're young and sprightly and able to strut around at 99% of the speed of light then your watch runs slower; once you've piled on a few years and pounds and are no longer able to gad about at a respectable velocity your watch runs faster in relation to everyone else's. There are exceptions to this rule of course - tortoises for example, although moving very slowly, experience a stronger gravitational field on account of being only a few inches tall and ergo, closer to the Earth's core.

 

[jmh59]

Work days used to drag, months seemed to pass very slowly but I took a severance deal at 58 and retired. Once past the stresses of work plus travel, yes, days fly past but are a whole lot of fun, new hobbies and stuff (or more correctly, actually having hobbies, as I never had time before). 64 now, I can't remember the day of the week as they are all the same!

Thinking more seriously, when I look back, primary school days were often slow due to wanting to get home; secondary school even more so due to the travel. Days seemed long back then. Then work... a bit of a mixed bunch because a lot was fun and learning, but latterly would drag on and on due to the pressures of management. So still long days. So if you could retire at 30, would the days seem to go as fast as they do if you retire at 60?

I have one more reason to blame work. If I was day off but took the wife in to work and collected her later on then that day always seemed to go fast even though it was the same 8 to 10 hours had I also been working. So I blame work. And school. And time.

 

[Typhoon]

For me, time started to speed up when my daughter was born and that was 31 years ago. The only time, time slowed down was during the 3rd winter lockdown, that seemed to go on forever. As a person who keeps myself busy, probably makes time seem to pass by quicker.

That surely is an important point. I could do with an extra day between Saturday and Sunday really (this weekend at least), however I know a few people and know of rather more for whom time drags by. For everyone, but particularly the retired, you need a (good*) reason to get up in the morning!


* - I've included that because someone I knew would include booze and fags. They don't count.

 

[778]

Thinking more seriously, when I look back, primary school days were often slow due to wanting to get home; secondary school even more so due to the travel. Days seemed long back then. Then work... a bit of a mixed bunch because a lot was fun and learning, but latterly would drag on and on due to the pressures of management.

A typical school day seemed to go on forever compared to a day at work now, even though a workday is over an hour longer.

I still can't get my head round the concept of the halfway point between the end of WWII and now being as late as 1984, either.

The difference between 1945 and 1984 seems a positive ocean, yet 1984 sometimes doesn't seem that long ago.

What does seem strange is that the halfway point between now and the end of steam is April 1996. Although I wasn't around in August 1968 the difference between 1968 and 1996 seems bigger than the difference between 1996 and today. The days of Euro 96 and the Spice Girls are as many years away today as the end of steam would have been then.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

When I was a child it seemed like an eternity to get from one Christmas to another, nowadays each year just flies past. It seems no time ago that it was spring.

I still can't get my head round the concept of the halfway point between the end of WWII and now being as late as 1984, either.

The difference between 1945 and 1984 seems a positive ocean, yet 1984 sometimes doesn't seem that long ago.

I have the same experience, and I agree with @3141 - I'm sure it's to do with time before you were born feeling more remote.

Coincidentally, 1984 was when I took my A level in history, with the syllabus being World Affairs since 1945. Even though that was a period of less than 40 years, it felt to me at the time like I was learning stuff from so long ago as to be a different World.

The time that has passed since I took that exam is now exactly as long as the time covered by the exam, yet to me, 1984 still feels fresh and recent. If I try to look at things rationally, I can see that maybe both UK society and the World has changed just as much since 1984 as it had between 1945 and 1984 - but it certainly doesn't feel like that. Seems strange to think that, if that history syllabus still exists (I've no idea whether it does), it would today cover twice as much history.

EDIT: What feels even more strange is: 1984 feels fresh and recent to me, but if you go back in time just 10 times as far, you're practically in Shakespearean times, and even pre-civil-war!

 

[Peter Mugridge]

As for me... at 56, I am now able to say I go just over half way back to the sinking of the Titanic...

 

[GRALISTAIR]

It seems to for me.

 

[Cdd89]

One curious thought I had a while back is that you can subtract your age from your year of birth to discover your backdated year. The gap between then and the current year obviously widens at twice the rate of normal time. I don’t feel remotely connected to the point in history I am passing through!

 

[Springs Branch]

It's very true. The slower you travel and the faster time speeds up for you. When you're young and sprightly and able to strut around at 99% of the speed of light then your watch runs slower; once you've piled on a few years and pounds and are no longer able to gad about at a respectable velocity your watch runs faster in relation to everyone else's. There are exceptions to this rule of course - tortoises for example, although moving very slowly, experience a stronger gravitational field on account of being only a few inches tall and ergo, closer to the Earth's core.

Generally speaking, that's a Relatively good explanation of the phenomenon. I've certainly experienced this in my life.

The exception is in the area of railway electrification. The older I get as an observer, the slower the clock ticks with even the most minor bits of electrification. How did they manage wholesale resignalling and to string up catenary on the WCML between Weaver Jn & Glasgow so quickly in the early 1970s? And a decade or two after that extend the wires to Cambridge, Norwich and Kings Lynn with apparently so little fuss?

 

[181]

I think the time before we were born somehow seems especially remote.

Indeed, the equivalent year to 1929 for me also seems distinctly historic, even though certain EMUs and locos that survived well into my adulthood had already been introduced then. But having said that, steam was still around 10 years before I was born and the concept of steam haulage on normal train services seems something from a completely different era.

What does seem strange is that the halfway point between now and the end of steam is April 1996. Although I wasn't around in August 1968 the difference between 1968 and 1996 seems bigger than the difference between 1996 and today. The days of Euro 96 and the Spice Girls are as many years away today as the end of steam would have been then.

I think things from before you were born do seem more remote (although I feel that if it was shortly before I was born it can't be that long ago, which is all the more reason why it seems strange that the end of steam was so close to my lifetime). But for railway enthusiasts born around 1970, it's accentuated because I think there genuinely was more change on the railways in the 15 years or so before we were born than in any comparable-length period since about 1850. (I can imagine a conversation in about 1903 with someone born around 1850 saying 'It seems strange to think that only 15 years before I was born there wasn't a national railway system, just a few isolated lines').

 

[nw1]

I think things from before you were born do seem more remote (although I feel that if it was shortly before I was born it can't be that long ago, which is all the more reason why it seems strange that the end of steam was so close to my lifetime). But for railway enthusiasts born around 1970, it's accentuated because I think there genuinely was more change on the railways in the 15 years or so before we were born than in any comparable-length period since about 1850. (I can imagine a conversation in about 1903 with someone born around 1850 saying 'It seems strange to think that only 15 years before I was born there wasn't a national railway system, just a few isolated lines').

Indeed, I was born a few years after the end of steam so I'm part of that generation, though my first proper experience of the railways wasn't until 1982 so even such things as Deltics* were "before my time". Both the end of steam and Beeching were big things, and taken together the railways of the first half of the 60s, for example, seem a completely different world.

(*excepting "Royal Scots Grey"'s late-90s renaissance under Virgin, when I did actually get Deltic haulage on a service train).