Does time seem to speed by faster the older that 'you' get?

HighlanderNorth

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I remember when I was in my early teens or even before that when time seemed to creep by VERY slowly. When you're young you tend to go through phases of interest where you may be really into one particular hobby or interest, then several months or a year later you're no longer into that, now you're into something else.

I remember visiting our family when I was about 14, and I'd be talking to my cousins who were 10-20 years older than I was, and almost every time we'd go see them every 6-12 months, I had a new interest. I remember one cousin saying "what happened to skateboarding"? I'd think about it and I'd say "that was a long time ago, now I'm into BMX riding/racing". But the truth was, it hadnt been a long time since I had been into skateboarding, it was less than a year, but it seemed like an eternity to me at that time! Back then a year seemed like 5 years does today! I can look back at when I was, say, 19 years old. From there, if I was to look back just 5 years when I was 14, that seemed like a lifetime before! But now each year goes by like nothing, and 5 years seems like a year used to seem back when I was 19!

Just last week, I was working for a customer who is in his mid 70's, and I commented about how Christmas is here again already, and how fast time seems to fly by. To that he said, "just you wait, when you get to be my age it flies by much faster than it does at your age".

I really hope thats not the case. But our perception of time seems to change drastically as we get older. Ironically the only time that ever seemed to go by really fast when I was in my teens and before, was summer vacation!(Doesnt that figure!) Before you knew it, it was time to go back to school again!:shakehead

Whats your current perception of time based on your current age range, and does it seem to go by faster as 'you' get older?
 

ShineOnYouCrazyDiamond

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There was a very interesting one hour tv special on a few years back that addressed this same topic from a semi scientific standpoint. The test they performed was to have a person count out and estimate what they felt a minute was while they were actually being timed on it. This was done with a grouping of people from their 20's up through their 70's. I can't remember the exact results but the younger people were counting the minute in the 50-55 seconds range and the older people were counting it in the 65-70 second range. The qualitative result of the experiment was that our perception of a minute elongates as we get older. This would definitely give the impression that time goes by faster as we get older.

Of course the up-side to this is that long car rides won't feel like they take as long anymore. :D

Edit: FYI - I am 38 and I already feel the changes of time perception.
 

mvyrmnd

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Each passing year is a smaller and smaller percentage of your life.

When you're 15, a year is 1/15th of your life. When you're 70 it's 1/70th.
 

Norm

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I have my own theory on this, nearly everything is relative, to a five year old one year is a fifth of their life, to a fifty year old one year is one fiftieth of their life.

Relative to the length of your life a year does seem shorter the older you get.

Norm

Snap Simon, I was composing this as you were posting, or have I discussed this with you before?
 
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Larbo

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A number if theories could explain this and it sure does seem to go faster... whatever the explanation it Sucks.
 

Sub_Umbra

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I have my own theory on this, nearly everything is relative, to a five year old one year is a fifth of their life, to a fifty year old one year is one fiftieth of their life...
Funny you should mention five year olds.

Whenever this comes up in conversation the first thing that pops into mind is my summer vacation after kindergarten. I recall very distinctly that it seemed to go on forever.

Of course, in just a few years summer vacation became far too short.
 
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Haha I remember my 2nd grade summer vacation and arguing with one of my friends moms that the vacation was 9 months long. sure seemed like it was at the time.
 

NonSenCe

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yeah.. in my mind they fly faster in numbers as you get older..

some part must be that as youth there was more new things to live and experiment yourself.. as you kept doing those things that felt BIG thing it felt that there was alot of things going on all the time. but as you age, the individual days and events that peak your jaded mind are more spaced out, the things that made an everlasting first impression on you as youth once in every year or month are now more normal.. kinda "been there done that" effect.

and also as years and experiences collect the exact time it happened gets fuzzy and hazy.. like: you do remember doing something cool and awesome, a BIG memory, and think it just happened, but as you start to trace back you realise it wasnt last summer but it was 3 or 4 years ago. like said before of the one year out of 20.. as a kid.. things happened in faster pace: one year you got your driving licence, and then maybe moved out for first time or got to legal drinking age.. you likely remember those first legal beers you bought, but as you buy them now at will, that doesnt rock your boat anymore.

it is that you might feel to be younger than you really are (you are as old as you only feel) if you keep beeing just as active as you were in your youth..

back then you might of worked /studied the week and then went out to movies or friends places for visit after the day, and on weekends you partied or took roadtrips etc to see some band or concert every week.. you traveled to new places or countries every year.. memorable and active things happened all the time.

nowdays, normal elder people dont do that, there is no energy to go out on friday and saturday and then still spend sunday in two or three activities and still start new week full of energy, no. you dont recover as quickly, you do need the rest. so you limit things you do in the weekend to "one thing" per day, not surfing in the morning/afternoon at garage and mowing the lawn/evening in friends place/night party bar hopping time.. you might still do those all.. but not in same day or weekend. haha. and its more likely that you plan ahead for weeks to do something special like a roadtrip or visit to relatives.. back when you were young you just might of hopped in the car or train in days notice and went to see your "strange cousins from the west". now you check your calender and then theirs and make plans.. and things still get cancelled because you are too "tired" to actually go and do.

a wise man once said: Youth is wasted on the young.
 

Nutdip

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Yes. 48 here...

I guess I'm a bit over the hump age wise, but I have noticed a distinct difference in the last couple of years. Especially watching the kids grow up. It really does seem like just yesterday that they were all running up with jumping hugs and sitting on my lap. Now, all three of my daughters are over 21 and are 6'1" tall! Where the hell that came from I'll never know. :laughing:

Time keeps on slippen, slippen, slippen into the future.
 

HighlanderNorth

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I have always been curious to see if I can find someone, anyone who says that time doesnt seem to go by faster as they have gotten older, but everyone I have ever asked has agreed that time does appear to get faster as they age. Of course if you ask someone in their early 20's, they might not notice it yet.
 

THE_dAY

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Each passing year is a smaller and smaller percentage of your life.

When you're 15, a year is 1/15th of your life. When you're 70 it's 1/70th.

I have my own theory on this, nearly everything is relative, to a five year old one year is a fifth of their life, to a fifty year old one year is one fiftieth of their life.

Relative to the length of your life a year does seem shorter the older you get.

Norm

Snap Simon, I was composing this as you were posting, or have I discussed this with you before?

+1, on relativity of time.
 

RNDDUDE

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I could explain the real science of this, but I just don't have the time....
 

TEEJ

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What is the point of your post then?

Norm

I think he was making a TIME joke?



For me, yes, time flies by so much faster its crazy....I told someone the other day (Or maybe it was a few years ago?) that I need a watch with a year hand on it.
 

JohnR66

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This thread started Jan 2nd and now we're about done with Jan 2013. Seems like we just celebrated the new years. I remember living in Indianapolis from 1973 through half of 1977 as a small child. Seems like an eternity we lived in that house. Moved to OH and "grew up" for the next eleven years from grade school to college. Also seemed like an eternity and many fond memories. We moved again and I moved out and lived in a couple apartments for a few years and finally bought a home in 1996 and still live here. It doesn't seem like I've lived here that long!

My parents are in FLA and I was talking to them on the phone the other day. My mom says, "doesn't it seem like time speeds up as you get older?" After the call, I had to stop and reflect for a moment. In the next 10 years or so, they may not be around anymore as well as my brother who has health issues. Seems like we accelerate to the grave as we age.
 

TEEJ

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This thread started Jan 2nd and now we're about done with Jan 2013. Seems like we just celebrated the new years. I remember living in Indianapolis from 1973 through half of 1977 as a small child. Seems like an eternity we lived in that house. Moved to OH and "grew up" for the next eleven years from grade school to college. Also seemed like an eternity and many fond memories. We moved again and I moved out and lived in a couple apartments for a few years and finally bought a home in 1996 and still live here. It doesn't seem like I've lived here that long!

My parents are in FLA and I was talking to them on the phone the other day. My mom says, "doesn't it seem like time speeds up as you get older?" After the call, I had to stop and reflect for a moment. In the next 10 years or so, they may not be around anymore as well as my brother who has health issues. Seems like we accelerate to the grave as we age.


Imagine a rocket fired upwards in an arc...youth is the fiery accent, middle age might be the crest of the arc, and, after that, older age, as we plummet downwards again.

Everyone's arc is different, and their trajectories will make them land in different places, but, so far, everyone lands.
 

ElectronGuru

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+1, on relativity of time.

I'm with this one. The effect really started showing up in high school. School years that used to last forever and be such a big deal (omg, 4th!) were taking longer and longer and meaning less and less. As I piled on more knowledge, the idea fit into the larger idea of life being relative.

We've come up with all kinds of ways to measure things that are presented as absolutes, but when it comes to importance, to what it means, the answer is always a relative one. With age, we don't even count years until about year 2. With lumens, you have to double the output to see the next tier. Without a known number to compare to, a given value lacks meaning.

The experience of time/speed/lumens/weight/size is relative.
 

HighlanderNorth

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Imagine a rocket fired upwards in an arc...youth is the fiery accent, middle age might be the crest of the arc, and, after that, older age, as we plummet downwards again.

Everyone's arc is different, and their trajectories will make them land in different places, but, so far, everyone lands.



No, everyone doesnt land.... Everyone crashes, burns and dies. Usually the last few months or years of your life are filled with health problems, sickness and weakness. That may sound negative and terrible, but I have watched several older clients physically go downhill or die, or both over the past few years, and unfortunately what I have posted in this paragraph is true about 99% of the time. Thats unless you get hit by a vehicle or something happens that causes you to die quickly. I'm going to visit my family in a few months, and the main reason is because my aunt has advanced Alzheimer's, and she is on her way out soon.
 
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