Why does time appear to move faster the older you get?

Question

As a kid, an hour seemed like an eternity. Now, I am almost 40, and an hour seems to fly by. My grandmother tells me the days seem very short to her. Why do we perceive time differently as we get older? Is it only a matter of perception?

Answer 1

No, not a matter of percrption. A matter of relativity. The power
of perception is the same at age 10 or 40. It is the reference
point/s of time that change. It's a matter of math. The greater the distance from any point of reference that we measure, the
the more relativity or perspective is achieved. If the 10 year old
were to ponder the time from his 5th birthday, he would be 25
wondering what the hell happened to high school and college.

Answer 2

When one is experiencing a lot of new things, the mental processing of all that is happening is rather complicated so time seems to slow down. This can happen to an older person too, if one has a narrow escape on a freeway and trick driving has to be done to save one's life. Or if one has to give a speech before a big group, every moment leading up to the speech and walking on stage to the podium can be memorable.

Normally if we're driving to work or taking the train, our brains go into autopilot in some ways, and the whole journey takes the normal amount of time or just flies by.

But if something stressful is happening or something dire is about to happen, or maybe something wonderful like the birth or the wedding of someone dear... then once again, every moment has precious detail and time seems to slow down.

Nearly everyone has a fenderbender and can recall details... such as how a certain car moved closer and shouldn't have been there. How one then reacted by checking over the other side before turning the wheel...

Many people report things like feeling their whole life flash before them when there is a sense of danger or exhilaration.

Time in this respect is a perception thing, but as we get older, we still retain that ability to slow time down when there is a desire, desperation or fear that makes a situation unforgetable or all new again.

Spend a week with a special someone tramping through New Zealand and exploring places where LoTR was shot. The days will seem long for the moment, because so much is new. An unusal bit of flora or fauna can captivate, and the visual imagery will fill your mind with frozen bits of time.

Answer 3

Because you've lived longer.

When you are ten years old a year is 1/10 of your entire life.

When you are 40 a year is only 1/40 of your entire life. Therefore the perception is at 40 life is moving 4 times as fast.

Additionally by the time you have reached 40 the number of new experiences you have in a daily basis is much reduced from the discoveries a 10 year old is making. So the drudge factor helps speed up the perception of time as well :-)

Answer 4

Yes, I do believe that it is entirely based upon perception. I think a lot of it has to do with the number of activities, thoughts and otherwise that keep you and your mind occupied. You probably notice when you are completely bored- time seems to drag and drag, but when you are busy jumping from one task or thought to another- time will literally fly by.

On the other hand, when we are very young, we don't have a lot on our minds and we focus on one or two things and waiting on things like Christmas or a birthday seems to take forever.

When a person gets older, they begin to think about the things that they would like to get done and at the same time they don't have an infinite amount of time to do it in. This does make the time go even faster.

Again, it is perception.

Answer 5

I think as adults we can focus in on things better so it is easier for us to keep busy. The busier we are the faster time goes by. We also settle into a routine so every day is the same we know when we're supposed to be somewhere at what time every day and then WHAM it's the weekend and another week has gone by. As kids everything is new and we just want to be entertained so if there is nothing to do or nothing on tv all we can do is sit around and wait for something exciting to happen. So we end up feeling like an hour takes an eternity. That's my take on it.

Answer 6

Perception isn't an "only". It is built on our personal life experiences, attitudes, beliefs, goals and desires. Wanting something to slow down so we can enjoy it longer or Having more to do (get done) than time allows can shape the prism you look through (perception -get the idea?). A child has to wait for many things and is usually looking forward to a next day or next summer or next year. Waiting for something can make it seem farther away then it really is. Waiting in line for five minutes seems like it takes longer than having only five minutes to finish eating a big bowl of ice cream.

Answer 7

The earth is spinning up. By the time you're as old as your grandmother you will be having to hold on for grim death. I can already feel my feet lifting off as we speak.

PS If you want to spend an hour that's just like the old hours used to be, come and spend one with my daughter when she's in an "I'm bored!" mood or even better a "They/you/the Universe all hate me!" mood or go shopping with my wife (assuming you're not a female in which case forget the last one! If you are a woman, I have to say you're not an attractive one, I'd ditch the beard unless you're an Eastern Bloc shot putter).

Answer 8

Einstein used to say : 5 mins. sitting on a hot stove seems like an hour, and an hour sitting next to a hot woman seems like 5 mins. Yes it's only perception. Time is relative. Better than that , it's an illusion! Being older makes u more aware that time is ticking and also more self counsious that we eventually die so it must influence our perception knowing that time is running out!

Answer 9

The older you get, the less novelty you experience. When you experience something new, time seems to slow down, because you have no frame of reference. Conversely, if you have done a thing 1000 times before, and you know what to expect, you don't "stop and smell the roses", you don't "savor every moment", so time just flies by.

Answer 10

I know the feeling! I put it down to short term memeory loss, and the fact that you're probably busier now than you were as a kid and time has more meaning, ie meetings, deadlines etc. so it seems as though there aren't enough hours inthe day.