Why does time seem to speed up as you age?

reply to post by drock905


I've mentioned it before n some other postings about child rearing actually.

I look at it as percentages. To a 10 year old, summer seems to last forever becuase that yeah is 10% of his current time here as far as experiences. He has a shorter chronological measuring stick to compare things by. I also think that children think quicker and are more mentally agile than older people.

Think of it like a processor, a 3.0ghz chip processes many more things per second than a 3mhz chip.

As we get older, we measure things by longer terms.

relativity?

Intensity relative to sensation plays a part in it. What was that movie quote? Putting your hand on a hot stove for a second seems like an hour, and putting your hand on a hot woman for an hour seems like a second.

au.youtube.com...
Ian X. Lungold's Talk.

I found this video of 16 parts rather interesting. It explains a theory formulated around the Mayan Calender, and how they've translated the calender into the Gregorian Calender (or something like this), and then divided the calender into nine different eras, which contain thirteen stages, or 'phases' each. (not the best explanation given here - the video shall assure more confidence)

Apparently, we go through each stage (of the 13), through each era - with these stages representing the evolution of consciousness, and creation. Now as one era passes, we reach our next vital step in evolution, or 'Jump', and the interesting part is - the next era follows the same 13 step process, TWENTY TIMES FASTER than the previous era. And so it continues.

According to these calculations, CREATION is speeding up (of our level of consciousness, which manifests henceforth)- Creating the Illusion that TIME is 'speeding up'.

I suggest watching this - it is rather interesting food for thought

P.S - According to this - which I intuit to be reliable, but am yet to find good evidence to support - by the time we hit 2011, we shall be experiencing shifts in consciousness at a MUCH more rapid rate; like every 7 mins, or hours, or something to that same drastic effect.

Yummy

its been said that we judge time by how long we have lived.
its like asking a 10 year old to imagine 10 years in the future...it would seem like a lifetime away.
but ask a 70 year old the same question...i think you see where im going

reply to post by drock905

As an adult you have more deadlines and timeframes you have to deal with than as a child. Summers were just that, a 3 month vacation, now days even on our vacations we pack in as much as possible on some time frame. My life was a firestorm, never ceasing and time seemed to just fly by, but I have since been diagnoised with cancer and having finished chemo I have nothing much to do but watch tv and now time seems to have slowed back down.....When something is meaningless too you and you have to much of it, it crawls, when it becomes a worthy commodity that you have to have, you cant get enough of it.

Well what slows time down: "waiting" for something sure does the trick. So "experiencing" should speed it up. Boredom vs. Stress

Personally I've found new or "active" information (new personal physical or intellectual events) slows time down. Not TV watching--but "doing" something new seems to speed the brain up and slow time down. It also imprints on my brain more...I can still remember water skiing for the first time, riding a bike, snow skiing, rock climbing, first fight, first kiss, job interviews, falling in love--breaking up. "Passive" information like TV, news, internet, busy at work, running mundane errands...speeds time up.

Meditation slows time down too--awareness. Awareness stretches the present.

As a kid, time slowed down because I was always "waiting" for school to end or a holiday. I was also doing more and experiencing new things that sped my brain up.

I think we can slow time down as we age--just do new active things that demand your attention.

i think its all a matter of thought... think about it... the things you really remember you thought about constantly for the next few moments after it happened. did you think about using the bathroom after you were finished? probably not and thats why you didnt remember it the next week. you remember something in class because youre using it for at least a day or two after, but maybe 15 years later you dont remember it if you didnt use it constantly, cause you werent thinking about it.

Originally posted by kcired_tsew
Fractions actually, when you were five a year was 1/5 of your life as opposed to when your twenty its only 1/20

Before I read through the rest of this thread I would like to agree that this is my understanding of the concept.


[edit: up to speed now]

I have nothing to add, I stand by my statement.

[edit on 17-1-2009 by Nirgal]

I really don't think it has to do with fractions of your life, because life and time are now, not the past or future. If you know you are going to die soon, you make the most of your time, if you think you will live for a long time or if you are depressed then you don't worry to much about it and carry on your life in boring monotony. What is time? Time is just the rate of change. If nothing is changing, time stands still. This is why so many people say that life passes right before their eyes, this is really just the world changing, but them staying the same.

Thanks for this thread, I do believe that our perception of time seems to pass at a persistently faster rate as we get older. The question I pose to all is how do we slow it down?...........Our perception that is. I do miss those long summers of youth................Now they just go Poof!..........

It is because when we were younger we saw life without a conditioned mind, the consciousness had more clarity or was more efficient.

Now as we are older we have habits, all sorts of egos, addictions, desires that take us away from perceiving life in a more conscious manner... we see life through a pair of dirty glasses.

oooh this is one i have debated for years with friends, for a number of reasons:

Time seems to go faster when your enjoying yourself - even when you was a child, can't you remember wanting to stay somewhere and having to leave but feeling like the time had flown by to quickly?

Boredom - time goes sloooooooooow. When you clock watch when your bored and waiting for something, time drags - like when your at work

I figured this, and concentrated on being busy as i could possibly be at work - time flew by and home time came sooner, good for work, good for me

Your waiting for something you are looking forward to, say a holida, payday or birthday party ect. Time appear to drag.

When your not looking forward to something that is on your calendar such as a dentist appointment, interview, exams ect. that time comes around sooner. I


Being at home:

Time appears to go quicker when your watching tv, if there is nothing on you want to watch - its appears to drag.

Goes quick when your on the computer or games console - unless your not the one playing and your only watching or waiting for your turn.



If you fill your day with diffrent things the day appears longer, for example if all you did was get up, laze around and then go back to bed it would appear a shorter day than if you had gone out and come back again in between. The more things that you do add to how long your day feels, in my experience. The more different things you do in a week, makes the weeks seem longer, the same with years. Though i hate to admit it, cars probably add to that aswell. I learnt to drive 5 years ago. I can remember how long the days felt before that when i had to walk and use public transport, the days seemed a lot longer - i kind of miss it but as i do not live in a town or city it is the most economical way for me to get around, i saved loads of money once i had a licence. I live in the country so i make the effort to go for a walk at weekends and evenings when i dont have to be somewhere at a given time. Time is a luxury, i have learnt to appreciate, It is also a gift that costs very little.


[edit on 17-1-2009 by MCoG1980]

I agree. Time seems to go much faster than when I was younger. But maybe it is going faster for everybody. There is no way to compare this perception. I beleive it is not age, it is everybodies time that goes faster. We, the older ones have more time to compare to.

reply to post by rikk7111

be bored more.

Biological time clocks do tend to seem to speed up with age. But this is going on with an actual perceived 'quickening' of the end of this Age as we approach the true harmonic convergence of 7777pc. Here is Terence Mckenna trying to explain it with his fractal time wave theory (TIMEWAVE ZERO) which stops at winter solstice 6773pc:








[edit on 17-1-2009 by T1M3K33P3R]

reply to post by drock905


pineal gland melatonin levels slow down, causing you to perpetually age faster (time speeds up) because it is regulating your body's circadean rhythm differently

I see it as being like climbing a hill and descending the other side.

As a child everything is new, everything is a challenge. Then as you approach the summit everything becomes well practiced and mundane. As you start down the other side, you can see the end of your journey approaching and your mortality smacks you right in the face. You have much more you want to do and too little time. In the rush to get those things done time rushes by at an ever accelerating rate. Things that had little meaning in your youth suddenly become of major importance and you start to care about not leaving loose ends behind.

When you're a kid and you think about all you did in a day, you remember all the experiences which leave an imprint in your mind and make it seem like the day was longer.
When you're an adult and you think about all you did in a day, you usually remember only a handful of experiences because most of the day was a pattern which you've lived numerous times before.
Time is never 'slow' or 'fast' once you're living it, only once you look back on it and remember what you've done or haven't done.
But I'm sure that 'percentage' argument also plays a big role.

I've always thought it was because you had more new experiences as a child and also you are always looking forward to something as a child such as birthdays, christmas, school holidays etc, you look forward to less as an adult.. maybe some people can back this up, ifyou are waiting to have a child or move into a new house is the time slower????

Originally posted by cancerian42
reply to post by rikk7111

 

be bored more.

HA!HA!...................Well in that case I will settle for a speedy life of excitement.............

I believe that time seems to quicken as soon as you leave school, I left school in 1999 and time has just flown by.

This I think is because I started a career and life got a bit more serious, I mean when your in school your constantly bored and when your bored time seems to take forever!

Also when you get older you have children and they take up alot of your daily time and it just seems like theres not enough hours in the day thus making you think that time is going so fast!

Maybe I'm wrong but who cares?