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This is great. I think that the illusion of time speeding up as we get older is due to getting into a routine where we do the same thing every day, and the bra

This is great. I think that the illusion of time speeding up as we get older is due to getting into a routine where we do the same thing every day, and the brain begins compressing memories as our everyday experiences become less novel. Using a "randomizer lite" program to shake things up might be a good start to breaking the routine.

taheca 9y ago
protip: do this before having children, as it will be virtually impossible after.
- SubiculumCode 9y ago
  What, your children mind when you don't pick them up from school because an app randomised your life and sent you to a massage parlor? :-)
- joezydeco 9y ago
  Speaking as a parent: children are excellent life-randomizers by default.
  - jpatokal 9y ago
    The hard part is letting them be random instead of forcing them into Adult World schedules. "Johnny, stop having a blast in the beach with the new friends you just made, or their parents might invite us for dinner or something! We need to drag you to the Museum of Boring Things right now so we can maximize the value-add of this vacation!"
  - bonniemuffin 9y ago
    This is one of the top reasons I'm interested in having kids. I think I need my life randomized a bit more, but "the app that sends me to random facebook events" won't come see me for Christmas when I'm old.
    - chris_wot 9y ago
      You may live to regret that. Most of the random things my kids do are cute and funny. There are also times when they are decidedly not cute and funny, and you spend hours scrubbing the walls getting rid of Mr Bee stamps and removing those your 7 year old stamped to the ceiling (how the heck did he reach the ceiling?!?)
      - joezydeco 9y ago
        Yeah, forgot to mention to the part where the kid-randomness is not all happy Instagrammable moments. There are lots of less-happy events.
coldtea 9y ago
>I think that the illusion of time speeding up as we get older is due to getting into a routine where we do the same thing every day, and the brain begins compressing memories as our everyday experiences become less novel. That's part of it. Another part is that, even if everything you see is novel everyday, if you are 1 year old, a year, e.g. getting to 2 years old is 100% increase in your life experiences. Getting from 31 to 32, not so much. It gets exponentially less, to the point of going from 40 to 50 a mere 25% extra lifetime for a whole decade. Whereas a decade when you're 1 is 10x more lifetime.
- nazgul17 9y ago
  I get the math, but the reasoning feels unjustified: why should we assume our brains work that way? It would make sense if we remembered the same amount of stuff every year, but reality is, you have fewer memories of the past. I am on the "routine makes every day the same and days just pass unnoticed" camp.
  - coldtea 9y ago
    >I get the math, but the reasoning feels unjustified: why should we assume our brains work that way? Well, the math doesn't change if we make other assumptions. The relative amount of time that passes us by is less in our 30s and 50s than in our 1s and 10s. Routine by itself ain't the answer as kids also have routines (school is whole big routine, as is living day-in/out with your parents, going to lessons, playing with friends, etc.), but their days don't "pass unnoticed", and a year of e.g. middle school seems to last forever when you are young. >It would make sense if we remembered the same amount of stuff every year, but reality is, you have fewer memories of the past. The concept I described is not related to memories per se, but to new experiences -- which is subtly different (and not totally unlike your explanation). You know what a party is, and it's not that exciting the nth time you go to one, because you've seen 50 other parties in your lifetime, whereas the first times you went to parties (or had your first drink, or visited another country etc) were more impressive. That's regardless of if you actually remember all or any particular of those 50 other parties in any great detail -- it's enough that you remember the experience of having been to parties many times already. Now, the problem with merely saying "routine makes every day the same and days just pass unnoticed" is that it's a limited version of the above. What it lacks is seeing that even if you added random stuff to your days, you'd still have seen and done most important stuff in the past. You can't re-drink your first drink, learn about pop music and films for the first time, re-give your first kiss, go to your first party etc. You'll have to get even more random (and add stuff that is either too crazy or has less impact and importance) to beat those experiences later on.
throwanem 9y ago
The world will do this for you if you let it. Drive less. Be on your phone less. Do anything else more.

taheca 9y ago

protip: do this before having children, as it will be virtually impossible after.

SubiculumCode 9y ago
What, your children mind when you don't pick them up from school because an app randomised your life and sent you to a massage parlor? :-)
joezydeco 9y ago
Speaking as a parent: children are excellent life-randomizers by default.
- jpatokal 9y ago
  The hard part is letting them be random instead of forcing them into Adult World schedules. "Johnny, stop having a blast in the beach with the new friends you just made, or their parents might invite us for dinner or something! We need to drag you to the Museum of Boring Things right now so we can maximize the value-add of this vacation!"
- bonniemuffin 9y ago
  This is one of the top reasons I'm interested in having kids. I think I need my life randomized a bit more, but "the app that sends me to random facebook events" won't come see me for Christmas when I'm old.
  - chris_wot 9y ago
    You may live to regret that. Most of the random things my kids do are cute and funny. There are also times when they are decidedly not cute and funny, and you spend hours scrubbing the walls getting rid of Mr Bee stamps and removing those your 7 year old stamped to the ceiling (how the heck did he reach the ceiling?!?)
    - joezydeco 9y ago
      Yeah, forgot to mention to the part where the kid-randomness is not all happy Instagrammable moments. There are lots of less-happy events.

coldtea 9y ago

>I think that the illusion of time speeding up as we get older is due to getting into a routine where we do the same thing every day, and the brain begins compressing memories as our everyday experiences become less novel. That's part of it. Another part is that, even if everything you see is novel everyday, if you are 1 year old, a year, e.g. getting to 2 years old is 100% increase in your life experiences. Getting from 31 to 32, not so much. It gets exponentially less, to the point of going from 40 to 50 a mere 25% extra lifetime for a whole decade. Whereas a decade when you're 1 is 10x more lifetime.

nazgul17 9y ago
I get the math, but the reasoning feels unjustified: why should we assume our brains work that way? It would make sense if we remembered the same amount of stuff every year, but reality is, you have fewer memories of the past. I am on the "routine makes every day the same and days just pass unnoticed" camp.
- coldtea 9y ago
  >I get the math, but the reasoning feels unjustified: why should we assume our brains work that way? Well, the math doesn't change if we make other assumptions. The relative amount of time that passes us by is less in our 30s and 50s than in our 1s and 10s. Routine by itself ain't the answer as kids also have routines (school is whole big routine, as is living day-in/out with your parents, going to lessons, playing with friends, etc.), but their days don't "pass unnoticed", and a year of e.g. middle school seems to last forever when you are young. >It would make sense if we remembered the same amount of stuff every year, but reality is, you have fewer memories of the past. The concept I described is not related to memories per se, but to new experiences -- which is subtly different (and not totally unlike your explanation). You know what a party is, and it's not that exciting the nth time you go to one, because you've seen 50 other parties in your lifetime, whereas the first times you went to parties (or had your first drink, or visited another country etc) were more impressive. That's regardless of if you actually remember all or any particular of those 50 other parties in any great detail -- it's enough that you remember the experience of having been to parties many times already. Now, the problem with merely saying "routine makes every day the same and days just pass unnoticed" is that it's a limited version of the above. What it lacks is seeing that even if you added random stuff to your days, you'd still have seen and done most important stuff in the past. You can't re-drink your first drink, learn about pop music and films for the first time, re-give your first kiss, go to your first party etc. You'll have to get even more random (and add stuff that is either too crazy or has less impact and importance) to beat those experiences later on.

throwanem 9y ago

The world will do this for you if you let it. Drive less. Be on your phone less. Do anything else more.