Question

Why does it feel like time passes more quickly as we get older?

Answer 1

As a kid, there always was so much time. As a adult I've found that I'm always in a hurry...on a schedule. Time just seems to fly by now.

Answer 2

We measure time in proportion of our age. For a one year old kid a year is a 100 % of the time he/she has lived, but for a ten year old is only a 10% so a year to the ten year old passes faster than to the little kid.

Answer 3

When we are young, everything is new and we notice everything. We tend to live externally and are very stimulated. This causes us to live in the moment, which causes time to go by more slowly.. . As we age, there are fewer things that are new to us and we tend to live more internally (lost in our thoughts), not as affected by what is going on around us...kind of a waking dream state. This causes the appearance of time passing more quickly.. . Try the following experiment. Sit in a chair with no TV or radio...totally quiet room and focus on the hand of a clock for one full minute. You will notice that the minute seems to take longer than normal. Also, you might notice that meetings and other unpleasant stuff like the dentists chair also take ages in comparison.

Answer 4

Seems to me bcause when you are 4 years old, 1 year is 25% of your sum total life experience. That's a huge chunk.. . When you are 50 years old, say, 1 year is only 2% of your sum total experience.. . Things seem to go faster because you have a longer span to compare them to.

Answer 5

I think it's because of the proportion/ ratio between how long you have already lived and the time..I mean when you are 5 years old, a year going by is one fifth of the existence you have already lived so it seems very long. Once you get older that ratio becomes higher and higher making time seem much shorter.. . I don't know if I made my point though!!!

Answer 6

Mainly it's because you slowly become more aware of your surroundings, you begin to notice things, you gain wisdom, and you start realizing things and expreiencing new feelings like never before. This makes us more interesting in life, and we begin to treasure it more than ever before, which results in our wanting to prolong life. However, the more we like something, the faster it seems to pass; Hence life's quick passage.

Answer 7

I like the "Dark Mava" line of thinking.. I cannot help but think back to when I was younger, thinking of my age in comparison to time spans I had to deal with.. For example, to a 6 year old child just entering first grade, the idea of having to endure 12 more years of schooling (+ college) is a little daunting, after all, it is twice the length that have been a live.. To an adult, one may spend 12 years working for the same company several times during the life and think little about it.