I'm just a few years shy of being 24 years older than 24, but I have to say my lived-experience does not agree with this observation. The time from 24-today seems much longer than the time from 0-24.
I do remember a period in my early 30s where time seemed to move fast, but hasn't felt that way in over a decade.
Though I suspect, agreeing with much of the article, this is because my life has had a fair amount of novelty in it, even as I age. I often marvel at how impossible to predict my life has been even a year out. Even a year ago I would not have imagined doing the job I'm currently doing, traveling to the places for work I currently need to, meeting the new people I have, solving problems in a space I had no understanding of.
As contrast I've often been shocked to talk with former coworkers to find that have had nothing change, not even what they're working on during the day, in the span of time that has resulted in my making multiple moves, changing multiple jobs (arguably even careers), learning new skills, etc. The most extreme was a college roommate I hadn't talked to in 20 years, and barring his marriage a few months after we last spoke, his day-to-day routine was identical to what it was 20 years ago. We only had a chance to meet up because I had briefly moved back near the area we went to school.
The more responsibilities you take on the harder it is to make big changes.
I moved to a new country when I was 29 and it wasn't too hard. Doing it again, at 40, with 2 kids, was probably 50 times as hard (if anything I am understating it)
My mom, at least, tells me that life can get more interesting once the kids are 10 or so, apparently.
It’s seems bizarre and alien to me as a relatively new parent that you don’t seem to consider that a big change but instead an impediment to your travel plans.
Meh, "only 22" doesn't mean they have to be hesitant about making pronouncements about the whole human life. You're living a life, I'm living a life, the 22-year-old author is living a life. Why would any of us need to be "very hesitant" when it comes to discussing the whole human life? It's our life, anyone can talk about it.
> A study asked different age groups to mentally count 120 seconds. People under 30 averaged 115 seconds; those over 50 just 87. That's a 24% reduction in perceived time.
This seems bogus to me. I’m 51; I set a timer on my phone for 2 minutes, put it aside and counted to about 128 before it went off.
Why would your ability to count seconds change over time? A second has always felt a little slow to me, probably because my resting pulse is above 60.
(I think it’s also ambiguously described? Maybe they meant the opposite, in which case it took me about 114 seconds to count to 120.)
I don't understand. If I feel like two minutes passed when only one has passed, am I not actually experiencing time as twice as slow?
I thought two minutes have passed, yet I have a whole other minute to live. I thought time passed quickly, but I get to experience twice as much time. By that logic, we think we're 80 when we're 40, and we have another subjective 80 years to live.
How is that "time flies by"? Time would fly by if it went by so slowly for me that ten hours had passed when I thought it had only been a minute.
My computer presents way less fps in same games as when i bought it 10 years ago. I myself am not as fast neither in games nor catching fast balls as when I was 20 instead of my almost 40 years now.
Surely the degrading hardware gotto play a role aswell.
If the years feel like they fly by, shouldn't the older group give responses of greater than 120s for the 120s timer?
I say this in threads whenever this concept comes up, but I doubt the feeling has anything to do with something intrinsic in the brain, but is just representative of the variety of novel activities you do, and for most people their novel activity seeking wanes as they get older. Giving your brain more time to go on "auto pilot" and lose track of time.
The year I spent at a desk when I was 24 feels significantly shorter than the 3 months I spent at 39 traveling in strange lands.
The less new activities are performed the faster time is perceived when looking back. During the events it might be the opposite and actually feel longer.
> The less new activities are performed the faster time is perceived when looking back. During the events it might be the opposite and actually feel longer.
There is another side to this: So much novelty that you have no time to consolidate memories and everything feels like it’s zooming by. I’m in that situation right now and it’s shocking to look back 1 year. It feels both like 10 years have passed and like it was yesterday.
> life is half over by 23 or 24
I'm just a few years shy of being 24 years older than 24, but I have to say my lived-experience does not agree with this observation. The time from 24-today seems much longer than the time from 0-24.
I do remember a period in my early 30s where time seemed to move fast, but hasn't felt that way in over a decade.
Though I suspect, agreeing with much of the article, this is because my life has had a fair amount of novelty in it, even as I age. I often marvel at how impossible to predict my life has been even a year out. Even a year ago I would not have imagined doing the job I'm currently doing, traveling to the places for work I currently need to, meeting the new people I have, solving problems in a space I had no understanding of.
As contrast I've often been shocked to talk with former coworkers to find that have had nothing change, not even what they're working on during the day, in the span of time that has resulted in my making multiple moves, changing multiple jobs (arguably even careers), learning new skills, etc. The most extreme was a college roommate I hadn't talked to in 20 years, and barring his marriage a few months after we last spoke, his day-to-day routine was identical to what it was 20 years ago. We only had a chance to meet up because I had briefly moved back near the area we went to school.
The more responsibilities you take on the harder it is to make big changes.
I moved to a new country when I was 29 and it wasn't too hard. Doing it again, at 40, with 2 kids, was probably 50 times as hard (if anything I am understating it)
My mom, at least, tells me that life can get more interesting once the kids are 10 or so, apparently.
It’s seems bizarre and alien to me as a relatively new parent that you don’t seem to consider that a big change but instead an impediment to your travel plans.
I would advise the author to be very hesitant about making pronouncements that are supposed to apply to a whole human life, when he's only 22.
Meh, "only 22" doesn't mean they have to be hesitant about making pronouncements about the whole human life. You're living a life, I'm living a life, the 22-year-old author is living a life. Why would any of us need to be "very hesitant" when it comes to discussing the whole human life? It's our life, anyone can talk about it.
Time passes quickly because of jobs. We go in on Monday, we skip the week and come out on Friday, flushing 70% of our time down the toilet.
It's tragic, and I don't want to suffer that fate. Alas, there's no escape for common trash without at least 3 million in assets.
> A study asked different age groups to mentally count 120 seconds. People under 30 averaged 115 seconds; those over 50 just 87. That's a 24% reduction in perceived time.
This seems bogus to me. I’m 51; I set a timer on my phone for 2 minutes, put it aside and counted to about 128 before it went off.
Why would your ability to count seconds change over time? A second has always felt a little slow to me, probably because my resting pulse is above 60.
(I think it’s also ambiguously described? Maybe they meant the opposite, in which case it took me about 114 seconds to count to 120.)
I don't understand. If I feel like two minutes passed when only one has passed, am I not actually experiencing time as twice as slow?
I thought two minutes have passed, yet I have a whole other minute to live. I thought time passed quickly, but I get to experience twice as much time. By that logic, we think we're 80 when we're 40, and we have another subjective 80 years to live.
How is that "time flies by"? Time would fly by if it went by so slowly for me that ten hours had passed when I thought it had only been a minute.
My computer presents way less fps in same games as when i bought it 10 years ago. I myself am not as fast neither in games nor catching fast balls as when I was 20 instead of my almost 40 years now.
Surely the degrading hardware gotto play a role aswell.
Maybe the computer needs a dust and some fresh thermal paste. The body also benefits from care and maintenance. But yeah, we do still age of course.
If the years feel like they fly by, shouldn't the older group give responses of greater than 120s for the 120s timer?
I say this in threads whenever this concept comes up, but I doubt the feeling has anything to do with something intrinsic in the brain, but is just representative of the variety of novel activities you do, and for most people their novel activity seeking wanes as they get older. Giving your brain more time to go on "auto pilot" and lose track of time.
The year I spent at a desk when I was 24 feels significantly shorter than the 3 months I spent at 39 traveling in strange lands.
The less new activities are performed the faster time is perceived when looking back. During the events it might be the opposite and actually feel longer.
> The less new activities are performed the faster time is perceived when looking back. During the events it might be the opposite and actually feel longer.
There is another side to this: So much novelty that you have no time to consolidate memories and everything feels like it’s zooming by. I’m in that situation right now and it’s shocking to look back 1 year. It feels both like 10 years have passed and like it was yesterday.
> first kiss, first job, first time living away from home
never had that. or worked a job. or lived away
sounds cool!