Time Passing More Quickly.

[paddyk]

I often wonder why the days,weeks and months seem to pass more quickly as you get older. For example when I was in my twenties the hours and days seemed to drag by but now I am middle aged, time seems to have speeded up and each successive year seems to pass more quickly. Is it a psychological thing - does something change in the brain or is some other factor involved. I have asked other people if time seems to pass quicker as they get older and a lot have said yes it feels that way to them as well. Has anyone any views on this?

[guilliebrougues]

I was told that when I retired I would not have time to do the things (hobbies) I want to do and I would be busier than when I was working. I have found out that this is true, although retired their does not seem to be enough hours in the day even to do household chores etc. or hobbies I used to do when working.

[vakayu]

Hi paddyk I totally agree with you the weeks and months are flying by and do seem to speed up as one gets older,it's true what they say if you want something done ask a busy person. I don't know if it is that you realise you are in the autumn of life and there is less time ahead than has gone before,but some days there just isn't enough time?

[coccinelle]

Time drags when you're bored or doing things you don't enjoy however, when you're older you've probably decided to do things you really like so times seems to quicken up.
I must say that since the internet I am much more inclined to spend time on the computer which I didn't even have in my twenties...

[Svejk]

I can't answer your question, Paddy, but its so true. Remember waiting a week for Christmas or Bonfire night, when we were kids. Felt like they'd never come.

[bazwillrun]

The way i've always understood and the main factor is this:

As you get older the time frame references that you are brought up with eg, hours, days months , years etc represent a smaller percentage of your entire life.

If for example you are ten years old then one year is a larger percentage of your life than if you are 50 years old.

so at fifty, one year being a smaller percentage and you have lived through many of them they seem to go quicker because you see them as small chunks rather than big chunks, and they are percieved as having gone by quicker.

Its just a trick of the mind really based on how you percieve time

[marje]

I agree Paddy. I thought I'd never reach 21, time passed so slowly, but now am 65 and retired time just seems to gallop by.

[VHG]

In the song Time by Pink Floyd (from Dark side of the moon) there is a verse which goes

And then the one day you find
Ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run
You missed the starting gun

[LazyGun]

Interesting article on this recently, in some science magazines. As far as humans go, there is a hypothesis that the more information you are able to absorb and process at a time, especially visual information, the faster time appears to be. This might explain why babies and children, with developing neural architecture and consequent inferior abilities to process dynamic information, may experience the passage of time differently.

Link to a BBC article discussing this;
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24078179