Does Time Go Faster As You Get Older?

[Leaffan]

@Jman

I have long held Polerius’ first theory for this phenomenon.

The fact that one year is now only 3% of my life, vs. 20% as a young child, makes a huge difference in how we perceive time. It is also the most likely explanation given our lack of truly new world discoveries past about age 16. (Obviously we still learn, but I’m learning every day on my job, so it’s not like I stopped learning. I’m talking about ‘wow, there’s a giant ball in the sky!’ type of stuff.) The fact is, I’ve been married to my wife for nearly 5 years, and it has gone by so much faster than the 4 years of high school did, that’s for sure. I can’t even imagine how fast my daughter will seem to grow up (she should be here in about 6 weeks.)

Yep. My daughter’s 10. She was born, oh about 2 years ago, as far as I can remember.

[Intelligently_Designed]

I think one of the reasons is that when we’re young, we look forward to a lot of things, among which being a grownup, and those things seem so far away. As we get older, we tend to not like what’s coming up (old age, sickness) and wish time was slower.

Also, the fact that grownups like to be so damn busy and do not taste the moment nor watch time go by enough.

[AHunter3]

@AHunter3

When you are 2 years old one more year is half a lifetime, both subjectively and by definition.

I think we experience time intervals subjectively as they compare to all the time we have known so far.

That sort of explains why early childhood was so FOREVER.

And credit where it is overdue to Polerius who said it better and first.

[Chefguy]

@picunurse

Once you’re over the hill, you pick up speed. I’m on the luge to hell.

I wondered who that was behind me.

[msmith537]

@ralph124c

…that you experienced as a kid. I do it all the time. have you noticed how time slows down when you are waiting at the dentist’s office? Or in an airport lounge? It is because your sensory input has slowed dramtically.
That’s why i look for boring places to go (for vacation)-a week in kansas can stretch into infinity!

A coworker and I had noticed that 5:00pm - 6:00pm before a 6:00pm happy hour was the longest hour ever. We would sit there BSing for what seemed like half an hour only to realize 5 minutes have actually passed.

[Baker]

I have a theory that this whole thread is a conspiracy to make me feel old!

I was in third grade when JFK was assasinated. I was fourteen when men walked on the moon. I was polishing my boots in basic training when we got to watch Nixon, the CiC, resign. I’m older now than my grandmother was when I was born.

Hey, you kids get off of my lawn!

[amarinth]

@Jman

I have long held Polerius’ first theory for this phenomenon.

The fact that one year is now only 3% of my life, vs. 20% as a young child, makes a huge difference in how we perceive time. It is also the most likely explanation given our lack of truly new world discoveries past about age 16. (Obviously we still learn, but I’m learning every day on my job, so it’s not like I stopped learning. I’m talking about ‘wow, there’s a giant ball in the sky!’ type of stuff.) The fact is, I’ve been married to my wife for nearly 5 years, and it has gone by so much faster than the 4 years of high school did, that’s for sure. I can’t even imagine how fast my daughter will seem to grow up (she should be here in about 6 weeks.)

Also, for a lot of us, things don’t change as much from year to year as they did then.
When I was a kid, every year would mean new teacher (or teachers), new people (or at least a different mix of the old people), new after school activities, new this - new that. Third grade was very different than fourth grade. There was nearly nothing different between 2005 and 2006.

[purple_haze]

@Intelligently Designed

I think one of the reasons is that when we’re young, we look forward to a lot of things, among which being a grownup, and those things seem so far away. As we get older, we tend to not like what’s coming up (old age, sickness) and wish time was slower.

Also, the fact that grownups like to be so damn busy and do not taste the moment nor watch time go by enough.

So true. I often get a glimpse of life through my mother’s eyes ( she will be 74 in May), and it’s very easy to put myself in her place - scarily easy. I identify so much of my life with mom, and don’t like to think of a time when she won’t be here with me. She has started to mention that she and Dad don’t have much more time, and they want to travel and enjoy and LIVE now, before infirmity catches up with them. My grandma died at 72, and I know it’s hard for mom to now be older than her mother, if you know what I mean.

On the flip side, my oldest will turn 19 in about a week. The hell? It seems like she was just in diapers and I was wishing that time away… daydreaming about the future when I could sleep in every morning and not hear “Why” all day long. What I wouldn’t give to go back to those times when we sat in the rocking chair, reading stories together. My youngest is 13 and his voice is changing. Soon he will be taller than me. That will be another one of those happy/sad days.

I am 40. When I imagined life at 40, this is pretty much what I pictured. We live in a nice home. The kids are becoming more independent each day, and life is easier in so many ways then it was when they were small. The difference is, I wish I could slow time down and just savor life, just as it is, and I know that that’s not possible. When I was younger I mostly lived in the moment, but am now aware enough to know that things change, no matter how much you try to cling to them.

What to do? I don’t know, but I do know this - we’re going to Disney World.

[BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed]

I think as soon as you graduate high school, everything is just one long downhill coast from there. Not in terms of fun or interesting events by any means, but as to how time passes. I don’t know about you, but HS was a looong time of very hard work for me. Long hours of classes and a ton of homework. Once college came around, you would be in school for 1.5 months, and you’d have a week off (fall break or whatever the youngins are gettin off for these days). Then another 2 months, and you have a month off for xmas. Repeat for the spring semester, and your year is over. My 4 years flew by like that, and getting out into the work world didn’t change anything.

Wait, I graduated from college how the hell long ago? When did that happen?

A year used to be such a long time when I was younger, but now, even though I haven’t hit 30 yet, they seem to be rapidly slipping away from me. It’s weird.

[MovieMogul]

It felt like March was maybe 5 days long, so I am beginning to relate more and more with the OP.

[Marley23]

Kids’ lives are also more seasonal than adults’. After Labor Day you start school, Thanksgiving you get a short break, winter you get a long break, then you get another around March (depending on when the holidays fall), then you have a summer vacation. These days, the cycle is a lot shorter for me - I get up, think “ah, shit, it’s Monday? Well, only five days 'til the weekend.” By Friday evening, I have barely 48 hours before it’s Monday morning again. With that schedule it’s much easier for the time to slip by.