I was recently talking to a guy at church about things we like to talk about. Computers, AI, technology, and how things change. I made a statement about how time seems to speed up as we get older, and he referenced an article that is fascinating.
Summary: Time seems to speed up as we get older because we have fewer new experiences, which leads to less vivid memories. When we were younger, each year represented a larger percentage of our lives, and we encountered many new things that made time feel longer. “There is a strong link between time perception and information processing.”
*side note* I also found this other article that claims that technology is making our brains more efficient and resulting in a perception of time passing faster. Because tech is usually a “younger” thing, wouldn’t this mean that technology is speeding up younger brains? And older brains are not usually highly techie, although perhaps even an older person today is highly tech-savvy compared to someone from 400 years ago. Maybe the age time perception and the young tech-time perception are almost balancing each other out…? I digress.
Like all people, I am older than some and younger than some, and while a discuss of age may not be super applicable to me, I have observations:
The perception of time is fluid. I guess if I do the same task over and over for years, my brain deduplicates memories in some way. The result is less new to consider, so the total memory seems like less. That might translate to a perception of time speeding up. Age usually coincides with efficiency, a reduction of useless tasks and highly efficient useful tasks. i.e. Less time wasted as we become more aware of time itself.
This makes me think of the people who say they feel young when they are of an age that would be considered old. Many of those are likely doing more (walking, traveling, and whatnot.) I’ve said for years, ‘when you stop moving, you die.’ In this context, if I spend 8 hours a day watching TV, the time should be flying by due to the the mind-numbing repetitive life. I imagine one might blink and have 10 years pass. Seems like something to regret.
One goal is to find purpose in the various phases of our life. Age isn’t supposed to be a slow fading. We are granted wisdom and experience to share along with unique gifts. We have to shift our focus, but we still have purpose. I am aware that this attitude I share is in and of itself partly a result of numbering days.
Teach us to realize the brevity of life,
so that we may grow in wisdom. -Psa 90:12 NLT
The aged perception of time adds urgency and a drive when the drive of youth has subsided a little. Nothing wrong with that. Ideally, there will be existing relationships that can be leveraged to impart the wisdom. The embracing of this challenge should result in satisfaction and joy, while being infinitely valuable to the receptive youth. I’ve been on the young side of that equation and have seen the value.
Observation #2: more nerdy
I love science fiction, and this topic makes me think of time dilation, where two observers perceive elapsed time differently depending on gravitational mass. I.e. the faster we go, the more time is affected.
Timmy boards a space ship alone and travels supa-fast in some direction. When he arrives at his amazing distant destination, he perceives having been aboard the Miss Daisy for 15 years. He has eaten a ton of canned beans and has a huge beard. (Being alone, he has become used to the bean-air.)
So Timmy makes a call back home, but I guess due to the slowness of radio waves, he probably sends something like a text packet. “Hey Mom, I made it. Love you.”
Four years later, after learning to ride 3-legged sasquatches on a green and purple planetoid, Timmy receives a response on his hand computer. “This is your great nephew Timmonous. Your Ma had been dead for nigh-on thirty years.”
Timmy pulls out his handy abacus. 15 years in space + four years since I sent the message = 19 years.
“Oh wait, 4 years communication travel means it took 2 years for my note to reach there and 2 years for Timmonous’ note to get here.”
Recalculating: (15 years in space + four years since I sent the message) – 2 years since Timmonous sent his message = 17 years.
“Mom went to heaven 30 years ago and it has only been 17 years since I left!
Time passed at a different rate for Timmy than it did for his Mom.
Like I said: fascinating.
I suppose an older person can say “I’m living in the future!”
Here is an interesting video about it.
The Twins Paradox Primer (Rotating TIME!) – YouTube
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