Time Flies-- Whether You Are Having Fun, or Not!
It's hard to believe it is already February! Wasn't it just New Year's Day?
I was talking to my wife the other day, and we both observed how it seems like time is "moving faster" than it used to. It's funny to think about, because I also remember being a kid and thinking how weird it was when adults would talk about how "fast" time seemed to be moving.
Back then, it seemed like every day lasted forever! And if you were sitting in afternoon class on a sunny day, it seemed like time slowed down to a snail's pace, every tick of the clock feeling like it lasted an eternity.
Sometimes I wonder exactly what it is that changes our perception of how fast time passes. Is it purely aging? I don't think so.
As best I can tell, my time seems to move faster because my daily "to do list" seems to grow longer, every year. I still have about the same amount of time. I don't really like that development, because I have always been a big proponent of simplification... which (supposedly!) should give us more time on our hands, not less.
Maybe the faster movement of time has something to do with societal expectations. We still have days with 24 hours that are exactly the same length as they were 100 years ago... but our expectations of how much we're "supposed to" get out of a 24-hour period have changed. We expect so much more "content" these days. And there's a strange fear there, too... like people are afraid they are somehow "missing out" if they are not engaged and busy, 24/7.
I'm sure the radical increase in the volume of information coming at us isn't helping much, either.
I remember when "watching the news" on TV meant you got to look at the news anchor read the news, punctuated with occasional film clips. Today's average newscast includes multiple tickers, weather reports, screen-in-screen and so much more. The amount of information pushed at us in 30 minutes would have taken two hours to present, in 1970!
Personally, I find it exhausting, and would be quite content to have time slow back down to the snail's pace of my childhood. But do we really have that option? Or are these just the ramblings of someone who's getting old?
Anyway, having these thoughts made me want to take a bunch of things off my plate... and take some time to set priorities and re-establish what really matters... and what's really not that important.
Sometimes, one of the best things we can do for ourselves-- when it feels like we don't have enough time-- is simply to stop and prioritize.
What do you think? Does it feel like your time is moving faster and faster, or have you noticed no real change? Did time seem slower when you were a kid? Is your schedule often full, and you feel like you have more things to get done than you have time? Do you examine your priorities, on a regular basis?
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Interesting post and questions and nice pictures too... upvoted and will follow
Yes time move faster when we get old, but it's true that technology like smartphone, instant coffee, cooked meal ready to eat, all internet services related.......have contributed for this increasing rush after what?.....for what ? don't need to run, just enjoying the present should be enough .
@olisan, agreed... and I am choosing to run less and less... "taking inventory" of what's going on in my life and choosing more carefully what I put my effort and time into.
you ARE getting old. There is a psychological explanation though, the shorter the time you have lived already, the longer comparatively time seems looking back on it.
This is the way it always have been, but maybe you're right our hectic time does increase the effect.
The amount of available human knowledge now doubles every few years, and perhaps part of the problem is that we simply (from an evolutionary standpoint) can't keep up with it.
I for sure can't keep up with all the information. But I still think we live in fascinating times
Very interesting post! There's been a lot of research into time flying faster as you grow older in recent years, but it's always great to hear things first hand. The pace of life has increased for sure, but so also does psychological perception of time as you grow older.
@liberosist, thanks for the comment... maybe we can also look to the fact that the brains of younger people are more fluid and flexible, and thus more able to adapt to the ever-increasing flow of inputs than old fossils like me!