Why does time seem to go faster as we age?
4 responses | 0 likes
Started by metmike - Nov. 5, 2018, 11:01 p.m.

It’s not just you. Time really does seem to fly by faster as we age

https://qz.com/761000/its-not-just-you-time-really-does-seem-to-fly-by-faster-as-we-age/


"I don’t wish to end on a depressing note, but the five-year period you experienced between the ages of five and ten could feel just as long as the period between the ages of 40 and 80.

So get busy. Time flies, whether you’re having fun or not. And it’s flying faster and faster every day."


Carl,

You're our expert on age. What do you have to post on this?

Comments
By TimNew - Nov. 6, 2018, 3:31 a.m.
Like Reply

It's a simple fraction based on relativity.    The time frame is the numerator and your age is the denominator.


So, when you are 5, a year is one fifth of your life, or 20%


When you are 60, a year is one sixtieth of your life or 1.6%.


Time doesn't change.  Your relative perception does. 

By cfdr - Nov. 6, 2018, 8:34 a.m.
Like Reply

I've thought a lot about this.  Tim is basically right, but IMHO, there is a simple explanation to add, I think.

Our memories are stored - much like in a hard drive.  When the drive is new, there is plenty of room to store information.  Everything is stored.  The disc is not fragmented.  All the connections work well.  As we age, our brains get fragmented, and nothing works as well as when the brain was younger.

So, as we age, our brains store less and less information about what we are currently experiencing.  What is time (for us)?  Our perception of time is based on our stored memories.  Notice how easy it is for a young person to learn a new language, and how difficult it is for an old person?  Notice how easy it is for young people to make new friends, but how difficult that can be as we get older?  So, if our perception of time is based on stored memories, an hour when we were in grade school can seem endless, but a day when we are old can seem like very short time.

Does time go faster as we age?  Well, our perception does - that's for sure.  Maybe someday there will be a way to defrag our hard drives and renew the circuits.  But, as Huxley described it (as I remember - it was 50+ years ago - and my brain is an aged one - the "Doors of Perception" narrow as we age too, and many things that would be stored as a young person are not stored as we age, because survival depends on NOT wasting time and storage on things unnecessary to the struggle.

By metmike - Nov. 6, 2018, 12:24 p.m.
Like Reply

Wonderful thoughts!


The first one has a video to watch but the 2nd one has better sound quality:

Alan Parsons Project   Time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZX8u1eCXzo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhRzORqNa0E



By carlberky - Nov. 6, 2018, 6:57 p.m.
Like Reply

All of my multitude of synapes
Are verging on mass collapes.
I put in lots of prime time
And I don't mean to whine,
But I've got the right to say
Make the most of every day ...


Because getting old sucks!!!