# 20 Years Doesn't Seem That Long Ago. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 20, 2018, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-doesnt-seem-that-long-ago/810869 "2018-03-20T08:09:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-doesnt-seem-that-long-ago/810869/21 "2018-03-20T15:02:36Z")
“Oldies” are songs that were released before I was born (or at least before I was consciously aware of current popular music). When I was a teenager, songs from the 60s were oldies. They still are. But I can’t think of songs from the 80s as oldies, even though the 80s are now longer ago than the 60s were then, hard as that is to accept. Likewise movies: “Old movies” are movies released before I was born. If it isn’t old now, it never will be (in my perception). ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-doesnt-seem-that-long-ago/810869/22 "2018-03-20T15:03:16Z")
The weekend before last, I was at my friend’s dad’s 80th birthday party. At the dinner, I was seated next to my friend’s nephew, who is a junior in high school. When 9/11 happened, his age was measured in months. Bit of a reality check for me: that happened long enough ago that in the intervening years, someone could go from an infant to a high school student. But it happened, just like it did for my parents. When Pearl Harbor was bombed, my parents were what would now be called tweens. It was real to them, but babies kept being born and growing up with no first-hand memory of WWII at all. Wonder what this young man, in future years, will have as his “I’m old enough to remember…” incident? There will be something, because the world keeps rolling on. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-doesnt-seem-that-long-ago/810869/23 "2018-03-20T15:45:35Z")
I age in human years, but I remember in dog years. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-doesnt-seem-that-long-ago/810869/24 "2018-03-20T17:16:27Z")
> [@mikecurtis](#): > > I’ve been saying this for years, and every time I do, the person I’m saying it to looks at me like I’m speaking in barks instead of words. . .at least now I know I’m not alone! > > mc Ditto, I conjured up this theory several years ago. When I explain it to people I usually get the “thousand yard stare”. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-doesnt-seem-that-long-ago/810869/25 "2018-03-20T17:21:55Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > 1. As we get older everything becomes a rerun. You need emotional intensity and novelty to feel the sense of time slowing down. As you get older you live life on autopilot. Driving 5 miles on a comfortable road seems to occur far faster than driving 5 miles in a blizzard because the latter is full of novelty and emotions. This is something I’ve wondered - I am afraid that life will just pass me by because I’ve slipped into a routine of every day being more or less the same (same job, same neighborhood, same routine, same this or that.) I don’t want a decade to go by in a blink. So I’ve wondered if, in order to make things slow down, I have to deliberately inject variety or unusual experiences or different and new things in order to milestone things. ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-doesnt-seem-that-long-ago/810869/26 "2018-03-20T17:30:34Z")
When we are young, a lot happens. There is constant change. New grades, new schools. Milestones such as getting your driver’s license, dating, etc. When you are older it gets more monotonous and the years kind of blend together. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-doesnt-seem-that-long-ago/810869/27 "2018-03-20T17:52:16Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > So I’ve wondered if, in order to make things slow down, I have to deliberately inject variety or unusual experiences or different and new things in order to milestone things. This is a good idea, and something I sometimes have to remind myself of. When deciding what to do, where to go, etc. my instinct is to pick the familiar. But, I remind myself, I will have a fuller-feeling life, with more memories to look back on, if I do things I haven’t done before—even if I don’t enjoy those things any more than I would enjoy more familiar pastimes while I’m doing them. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-doesnt-seem-that-long-ago/810869/28 "2018-03-20T18:42:46Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > When my kids were born, my dad said: “The time from diapers to car keys will seem like a couple of weeks – enjoy them while you can.” Everybody says that, but I’m experiencing quite the opposite. The decade _before_ we adopted the Firebug - _that_ seems like a very short time in retrospect. We’d travel and stuff, but other than that, each day, each year, seemed pretty much like the one before it. It easily compacts to take up little space in the memory. It was like we fast-forwarded through that time. But the nine years since - those years have been _huge_. Too much happened in each year for them to compact easily; they take up an enormous amount of space in the mind and the memory. He’s in fifth grade now, and even when he was in third grade seems a long time ago. The year before we adopted him seems like the other side of time. So I’m weird. What else is new? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-doesnt-seem-that-long-ago/810869/29 "2018-03-20T19:17:25Z")
The uphill side of life is coated in molasses, the downhill side in grease. ---
**Author:** ![jerez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c68b51/32.png) [@jerez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerez)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-doesnt-seem-that-long-ago/810869/30 "2018-03-20T19:50:59Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > …Driving 5 miles on a comfortable road seems to occur far faster than driving 5 miles in a blizzard because the latter is full of novelty and emotions… This is what I came in here to mention, but without the blizzard. The proverbial walk in the park is going to seem longer the first time. I’ve noticed it, and I think it’s caused by a natural tendency to seek routine. It makes life easier to deal with, but it sure can sneak up on you. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-doesnt-seem-that-long-ago/810869/31 "2018-03-20T20:48:11Z")
> [@Jim\_B](#): > > Has anyone else noticed this phenomenon. **Please tell me if you have.** I don’t want to think I am alone in the world, in this way. > > And for you young dopers, take as a warning of what is to come. > > 🙂 🙂 🙂 You’re not alone. What’s the old saying? “Too soon we get old, too late we get smart”. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-doesnt-seem-that-long-ago/810869/32 "2018-03-20T22:08:57Z")
> [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](#): > > When we are young, a lot happens. There is constant change. New grades, new schools. Milestones such as getting your driver’s license, dating, etc. When you are older it gets more monotonous and the years kind of blend together. Kind of related (kind of unrelated too) but supposedly the art you are exposed to as a teenager or your early 20s forms a lifelong taste in music. The reason is that your sense of identity is forming in those years, so the art you are exposed to at this time becomes intertwined with your sense of self. As you grow older and your sense of self solidifies, the music you are exposed to doesn’t have any impact on your core sense of self anymore. Hence all the ‘this isn’t music, when I was young we had real music’ that everyone says about their kids generation of art. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-doesnt-seem-that-long-ago/810869/33 "2018-03-20T22:19:03Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > This has been studied, and the conclusion they have come to is not very satisfying for me, so I have an alternative theory which other have brushed upon here in this thread already. > > The official theory is that, when you’re young, a year is a higher percentage of your total lifespan so far, so when you’re two, the last year is half your life, and then at ten, a tenth of your life, and at 20 a 1/20th etc, so as the fraction drops, the significance of a year’s length has less meaning. Yes. I’m 42, and this is perfectly normal, and the above theory is what I personally have always assumed is the main factor in perception of time passed. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-doesnt-seem-that-long-ago/810869/34 "2018-03-20T22:40:12Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > A friend of mine has a hypothesis that our perception of how quickly time passes is a function of how much time we’ve experienced in our lifetimes to date. > > So, for an 8-year-old, a month is a not-insignificant portion of their life-to-date, and it feels like it takes a long time to pass. For a 50-year-old, a month is less than 2/10ths of 1% of their total life-to-date, and thus, feels like it flies by (under normal circumstances, at least). Is this concept really breaking news to some of you? I thought it was common knowledge. My anecdote: Recently a cow-orker mentioned his age. I responded with, “when you were born, I had already been working here three years”. The look on his face was one you might reserve for an occasion such as an alien landing. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Egnu\_Cledge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/34f0e0/32.png) [@Egnu\_Cledge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Egnu_Cledge)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-doesnt-seem-that-long-ago/810869/35 "2018-03-21T06:43:26Z")
I still think of the early 90s as being roughly ten years ago. I have more vivid memories of my life between 1988 and 1995 than I do from one month ago. I remember someone noting that Nirvana’s _Nevermind_ is now further back in history than Woodstock was when _Nevermind_ was released, and Woodstock was practically considered ancient history back then. Then, one day I was the same age my mother was when my wife and I started dating as teenagers. Suddenly, _Groundhog Day_ doesn’t seem like a comedy anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-doesnt-seem-that-long-ago/810869/36 "2018-03-21T08:29:35Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > The uphill side of life is coated in molasses, the downhill side in grease. Stealing this 😉 . ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-doesnt-seem-that-long-ago/810869/37 "2018-03-21T10:58:36Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > You’re not alone. What’s the old saying? “Too soon we get old, too late we get smart”. And [in the words of Dylan](https://www.bobdylan.com/songs/its-alright-ma-im-only-bleeding/), “he not busy being born is busy dying.” ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-doesnt-seem-that-long-ago/810869/38 "2018-03-21T18:30:30Z")
When I started posting on this message board, I wasn’t married. I was an “old-timer” on the board when I posted about our troubles getting pregnant, and how the cosmos was messing with me when we finally, unexpectedly, did. That little Torqueling is wearing a bra and giggling about boys now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/20-years-doesnt-seem-that-long-ago/810869.md?page=1)