4 ms·

> This may be why time seems to speed up as you age: you develop more compressed representations of events, and the memories to be read out are correspondingly

> This may be why time seems to speed up as you age: you develop more compressed representations of events, and the memories to be read out are correspondingly impoverished. When you are a child, and everything is novel, the richness of the memory gives the impression of increased time passage—for example, when looking back at the end of a childhood summer. With no proof or otherwise, I had always conjectured that this was because time is compared proportionally. When I was 6, the three months of summer were approx 3 / 72 of my life = 1 / 24. When I am 60, those three months will occupy 1 / 240 of my life.

josephagoss 12y ago
This is a little depressing isn't it? I wonder if there is any mechanism to counter this?
- rch 12y ago
  How about living an atypically varied life with lots of travel and experimentation?
- ludamad 12y ago
  In general I'm not sure, but certain substances give you the impression that time is going by very slowly.
  - aoakenfo 12y ago
    I think the more thoughts you can process per minute, the more time begins to slow. Drugs could be a way to achieve this.
- westoncb 12y ago
  That's not necessarily the case. Another possibility is that when it seems like time is passing more rapidly, it's because the events occurring have a lot of similarity to previously experienced events—so the brain compresses them. It fits the data in the same way: more things are novel when you're younger, less can be compressed. And, it fits exceptions to this rule that occur later in life (in my own experience anyway). To get around it, I think having less abstract experiences would be a good approach. If you're thinking in a highly abstract manner, maybe all your mornings might be identical and can be compressed into the unit 'morning.' In particular, I mean mindfulness, through meditation. Or you could just throw yourself into something new.
  - digi_owl 12y ago
    Had similar thoughts about the brain and memories after getting in deep with de-duplication.
abdias 12y ago
I believe it's based on what the brain considers valuable information (or necessary to determine the situation). When you drive a longer distance the first time it seems like a year. After driving the same distance plenty of times the brain filters out the information as it's considered "safe" or of no value. The opposite happens if you are in an accident, the brain needs all the information it can get, time seem to slow down as a lot of information is taken in. Just my theory anyways; condensed: time perception is relative to information stream the brain takes in.
Dwolb 12y ago
Another conjecture to consider is individual perception of time could be based on new experiences. That is, when experiences are mostly new, time feels slower. When most experiences are old (i.e. routine), time feels faster. This conjecture then tells one to go out and experience new things regularly!
- morokhovets 12y ago
  > This conjecture then tells one to go out and experience new things regularly! Or find a way to experience routines as fresh and new every time.
- mjklin 12y ago
  I think "time slowing" was the original inspiration for this subreddit (with no recent activity): http://www.reddit.com/r/SomethingNew/top/?sort=top&t=all http://www.reddit.com/r/SomethingNew/top/?sort=top&t=all

josephagoss 12y ago

This is a little depressing isn't it? I wonder if there is any mechanism to counter this?

rch 12y ago
How about living an atypically varied life with lots of travel and experimentation?
ludamad 12y ago
In general I'm not sure, but certain substances give you the impression that time is going by very slowly.
- aoakenfo 12y ago
  I think the more thoughts you can process per minute, the more time begins to slow. Drugs could be a way to achieve this.
westoncb 12y ago
That's not necessarily the case. Another possibility is that when it seems like time is passing more rapidly, it's because the events occurring have a lot of similarity to previously experienced events—so the brain compresses them. It fits the data in the same way: more things are novel when you're younger, less can be compressed. And, it fits exceptions to this rule that occur later in life (in my own experience anyway). To get around it, I think having less abstract experiences would be a good approach. If you're thinking in a highly abstract manner, maybe all your mornings might be identical and can be compressed into the unit 'morning.' In particular, I mean mindfulness, through meditation. Or you could just throw yourself into something new.
- digi_owl 12y ago
  Had similar thoughts about the brain and memories after getting in deep with de-duplication.

abdias 12y ago

I believe it's based on what the brain considers valuable information (or necessary to determine the situation). When you drive a longer distance the first time it seems like a year. After driving the same distance plenty of times the brain filters out the information as it's considered "safe" or of no value. The opposite happens if you are in an accident, the brain needs all the information it can get, time seem to slow down as a lot of information is taken in. Just my theory anyways; condensed: time perception is relative to information stream the brain takes in.

Dwolb 12y ago

Another conjecture to consider is individual perception of time could be based on new experiences. That is, when experiences are mostly new, time feels slower. When most experiences are old (i.e. routine), time feels faster. This conjecture then tells one to go out and experience new things regularly!

morokhovets 12y ago
> This conjecture then tells one to go out and experience new things regularly! Or find a way to experience routines as fresh and new every time.
mjklin 12y ago
I think "time slowing" was the original inspiration for this subreddit (with no recent activity): http://www.reddit.com/r/SomethingNew/top/?sort=top&t=all http://www.reddit.com/r/SomethingNew/top/?sort=top&t=all