ELI5: Why does time feel like it speeds up as we get older?

r/

As we get older, time seems to pass faster. Why does our perception of time change with age?

Comments

  1. MadJamJar Avatar

    When you are 1 years old that is your entire life. When you are 10 years old, a year is only a tenth of your life. At a hundred, its only a hundredth of your life. Thats why it seems to go faster.

  2. BatongMagnesyo Avatar

    as a kid, 1 year feels big since that’s a large fraction of your life (1 year to 10 years is a lot)

    as you grow older, that same time span feels shorter since it’s smaller compared to how much you’ve lived (1 year to 25? 50? is a lot smaller)

  3. positive_charging Avatar

    As said before your life to year ratio gets smaller as you get older.

    There is also the repeating of tasks so you are mostly on autopilot everyday and as a consequence nothing noteworthy happens therefore nothing is logged into your longterm memory and days and even weeks meld into one another which makes it seem like time has flown.

  4. Sarita_Maria Avatar

    Because oftentimes the older you are the less likely you are to come across new and interesting things that require cognitive function. So you forget most of your time spent because it’s unnecessary to remember it

    The more you can expand your horizons and force yourself to learn and grow, the “slower” you will age

  5. LaraaStar Avatar

    When you’re little, everything feels new and exciting, so it feels like time goes slow. As you get older, things become more routine, and because you’re used to them, time feels like it goes faster.