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Losing the concept of time as you age
- Thread starter Acorn
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Zee_truly evil
Member
The last 10 years feel like a blur to me as well. I think as we age, the amount of our new experiences become less frequent. Our life becomes repetetive, which adds to our perception of time going by faster. At least that's what I tell mysel :lol
SweetDonuts
Member
Im going to die at an alarming rate when i continue with my jon then.
Vincent Grayson
Member
The 90s will forever be "just 10 years ago".
MilkyJoe
Member
It only gets worse.
My Nan, she died last year aged 86, she told me to do things with your life, it's routine that makes time fly. I can say from personal experience, that the last 10 years have flown for me. This is what a 9-5 job does to a person.
Just like this
My Nan, she died last year aged 86, she told me to do things with your life, it's routine that makes time fly. I can say from personal experience, that the last 10 years have flown for me. This is what a 9-5 job does to a person.
Just like this
lordfuzzybutt
Member
Our company is hiring a new person, who was born in 1996. My first thought upon hearing that was why the heck are we hiring a kid.
Fallout-NL
Member
Yep use the same technique.
This is ringing a bell in my head but I can't place it
Polioliolio
Member
Yeah. I finally got around to watching the new Rocky movie. You know, Rocky Balboa? I thought that were milking things a bit by following it up with Creed so soon.
Yeah I watched that and then saw it was from like 2006 or something. So 11 years later I see it and still think of it as the new Rocky movie.
Edit: on the other hand, time still doesn't move fast enough when I don't want to be at work...
Yeah I watched that and then saw it was from like 2006 or something. So 11 years later I see it and still think of it as the new Rocky movie.
Edit: on the other hand, time still doesn't move fast enough when I don't want to be at work...
This.
Feel like a 4 day work week would help. Take Wednesday off in the middle of the week to recharge and to make the weekend feel less crammed/packed.
Worst thing of all is how fast the days go by. A whole week when I was a wee lad felt like it took a week to go by (no pun intended), now it feels like it's like a day or two and then we are into the new week.
Heck looking how many weeks we have in a year right it scares me to think that this year is soon over again. When I was a kid a year felt like ages to go by, now it feels like nothing
Heck looking how many weeks we have in a year right it scares me to think that this year is soon over again. When I was a kid a year felt like ages to go by, now it feels like nothing
J-Roderton
Member
Sometimes I go back and look at my xbox achievements and most of them have the date that I had unlocked them. It's like, holy shit, I haven't played Halo 3 in years. Seems like yesterday I was grinding away at it.
LegendOfGood
Member
And how does one do this?
Fallout-NL
Member
Pink Floyd.
Always-honest
Banned
Get a kid. Your life will go by even faster... it seems.
I know exactly what you mean. Time seems to go by real fucking fast when you're older.
I know exactly what you mean. Time seems to go by real fucking fast when you're older.
I swear I lose 15mins of my life when I'm in the shower.
It only happens when I think about something, instead of just washing up and getting out. If I think about anything... next thing you know I lost 15mins... even though I swear it was only a few minutes.
shit is weird and annoying.
but yeah, the past few years (35 now) I've been losing track of time...and have been forgetful.
I just figure it's because I am out of shape (usually 165, weigh 185 now) and I over analyze almost everything.
edit- one reason I play Madden Football. To make sure I still have my quick muscle memory and reflexes. I still do.
It only happens when I think about something, instead of just washing up and getting out. If I think about anything... next thing you know I lost 15mins... even though I swear it was only a few minutes.
shit is weird and annoying.
but yeah, the past few years (35 now) I've been losing track of time...and have been forgetful.
I just figure it's because I am out of shape (usually 165, weigh 185 now) and I over analyze almost everything.
edit- one reason I play Madden Football. To make sure I still have my quick muscle memory and reflexes. I still do.
Zelenogorsk
Banned
Yeah I feel like each year of my childhood up until I was 18 was very distinct. I recently turned 24 and the last 5 years have gone by in a blur.
I think part of it was that when you're younger you have school to break up each year, as well as you keep discovering new friends and hobbies. Each year of my childhood/teenage years was different. Over the last 4 years I've had the same job with the same schedule and the same hobbies when I'm not at work. So it's all just one big mush pile in my brain.
I think part of it was that when you're younger you have school to break up each year, as well as you keep discovering new friends and hobbies. Each year of my childhood/teenage years was different. Over the last 4 years I've had the same job with the same schedule and the same hobbies when I'm not at work. So it's all just one big mush pile in my brain.
Pretty much.
2015 for example went by incredibly slowly for me, but I learnt and did so much in that year. It was fantastic.
Last year simply whizzed by.
This year should (hopefully) be different since I have a lot more planned.
CadetMahoney
Member
begs the question if you could extend your life in the future through biotech of some sort, but this phenomenon doesn't go away, what would be the end result?
John Kowalski
Banned
Every conversation i have feels like i have a message from another time.
Prism Sentence
Banned
As you get older, you take on more responsibilities and your life becomes more and more rationalized, affecting your perception of time's passing. When you're a child, your days are often spent looking towards a handful of self-interested, sparse and relatively distant events (birthdays, video game releases, movie releases, holidays, weekends etc.). Your constant anticipation of these events keep you constantly mindful of time passing, much to your vexation.
As you take on more responsibilities, imperative events increase 1000x (family matters, bill payments, work schedules, work projects, dating, self-fulfillment activities etc.) to the point that you can't even be conscious of them all at one time. This affects your perception of time in a very different way, because there's always a fresh imperative event right around the corner after the last one, often making it impossible to be conscious of time's passing. Much to your vexation.
Like Lorentz contraction and Time Dilation as a social fact, rather than a natural one.
As you take on more responsibilities, imperative events increase 1000x (family matters, bill payments, work schedules, work projects, dating, self-fulfillment activities etc.) to the point that you can't even be conscious of them all at one time. This affects your perception of time in a very different way, because there's always a fresh imperative event right around the corner after the last one, often making it impossible to be conscious of time's passing. Much to your vexation.
Like Lorentz contraction and Time Dilation as a social fact, rather than a natural one.
DonMigs85
Member
Yeah I would think the brain would discard even more memories it deems non-essential. You might need to start a journal/diary or something
I know you're going to Japan soon. When you're there, you'll be surprised as time seems much slower.
It's not the country per se, but the fact you will have lots of new experieces. I think this is how we perceive time as children: as a succession of new instances. As we get older these don't happen as often, but when they do, percpetion of time slows down.
Just a theory, but see if it's true . . . .
SonicXtreme
Member
i think it has less to do with time and more to do with how your life is. for instance, the guy who said he can't remember what year movies came out in. i bet you've been living in the same place, possibly same job, etc for a long time. the more change i have in life the easier it is to undistinct the 'blur', for instances things that happened to me the year i lived in pittsburgh i can easily pinpoint versus things that happened when i worked the same job, lived in the same place for years. gotta mix it up a little bit if this is really annoying you.
edit: didn't read it before but lego right above me is on the same train of thought
edit: didn't read it before but lego right above me is on the same train of thought
Yup , years go by like months used to. Oddly enough , wasting time playing video games is one of the few ways I've found to slow down my perception of time . The effect only works during a play session though and only affects hours. Days and weeks still drip by like nothing.
Age 2-12 felt absolutely massive , 13-18 still pretty big. 19-24 a bit smaller ... 25-30 a bit smaller ... 31-34(now) has felt like nothing. I routinely get thrown off just considering that I've been out of school for more years than I was in school.
Time perception mixed with a big standard routine I guess.
Age 2-12 felt absolutely massive , 13-18 still pretty big. 19-24 a bit smaller ... 25-30 a bit smaller ... 31-34(now) has felt like nothing. I routinely get thrown off just considering that I've been out of school for more years than I was in school.
Time perception mixed with a big standard routine I guess.
I found that waiting for your next payday makes time go faster. Or waiting for the end of the week. In my case I just was looking forward to getting my money at the end of the month. Now I just live on a budget so I dont run out of money and dont really care about getting paid as much. I realize this isnt feasible for everyone though. In short, dont look forward to weekly/monthly things kids.
marcbret87
Member
Lol so true.
I tend to place myself by remembering the sports results of a particular year. By remembering that I recall my feelings towards it and everything else comes back. It's like my anchor.
marcbret87
Member
Most definitely. When you are in a routine it's much harder to recall specific things, whereas I recall quite well my time in overseas assignments.
im in my third year of dental school. time is flying and feels like yesterday when i just moved in, so that can't be right
SolVanderlyn
Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
I was just thinking about this recently. I'm about the same age as you, OP, and experience the same thing. When I think how important 5 years was in high school, or even college, it's staggering. 5 years ago it was 2012. I still feel like it's 2012. Don't even get me started on when people say things that came out after that are dated now.
bonesmccoy
Banned
I have a bit of a different experience.
When I look back at the past 15 years - basically university, marriage, family - it feels like a long time has passed. It blows my mind and I feel like an old man. The post above about signposting seems to be at work here.
But then I think about the last time I've seen some friends, particularly those from university, and it feels like time has flown by.
When I look back at the past 15 years - basically university, marriage, family - it feels like a long time has passed. It blows my mind and I feel like an old man. The post above about signposting seems to be at work here.
But then I think about the last time I've seen some friends, particularly those from university, and it feels like time has flown by.
Mine is even worse. Sometimes I just think back and something like this, The Dark Knight, came out in 2008. That wasn't that long ago, Nolan batman films still feel very recent to me, sutff like INCEPTION feels very new... but then I realize in the movie they're showing a goddamn Nokia 5800 smart phone. This is when iphone was like less than 2 years old and facebook wasn't that big of a deal. I'm like wow what's wrong with me. That is ancient times if you think about it but to me still feels the same as today.
Yep. Can't believe my eldest turns 10!
LordKasual
Banned
killswitch on fast forward
pls make it stop
pls make it stop
This is so true.
My mom always said "The days are long but the years are short."
JinjoUnchained
Member
Hey OP, try changing your daily routine. Even something as dumb as taking a slightly different route to work or eating something new for lunch, or listening to a podcast on a topic you never got into before. Life goes faster when it's routine. But you can shake things up if you want.
UpUpDownDown
Member
Hahaha.
Love watching gafers go through and existential crisis.
You'll get over it.
Love watching gafers go through and existential crisis.
You'll get over it.
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