Anthony Zhou Week 16: Time is Flying… Faster?
“When was the last time you’ve been to New York?” asked my friend.
“About a decade ago.” I replied.
Hold on. A decade ago? A decade ago I was seven. That’s when I was in first grade. I remember everything from a decade ago. I can’t believe that I’m now able to describe moments in my life in increments of a decade. A decade is 10 years! 10 whole years!
When I was nine years old, a decade was longer than I’d been alive. Fifth grade seemed ages away. When I was in ninth grade eleventh grade seemed ages away. Now that I’m looking back it feels like I was nine years old just yesterday.
As we get older, it feels like time is flying faster and faster. However, time cannot go faster. It’s a governing principle of the universe that there’s 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day, 365 days in a year. So why does it feel like time is flying faster?
Today the commonly cited reason for this apparent speed-up in time is due to the fact that as we become older a year in our lives takes up a smaller portion of our life. For a toddler, a month may take up 10% of their lives. For us teenagers, a month is about 0.5% of our lives. For someone in their 80s, a month is about 0.1% of their life. Therefore, time appears to be going faster because each year is becoming “less significant.”
However, this is merely a phenomenon. Time is not passing more quickly than it did in the past. But it’s going to feel like it’s passing quicker as we get older, so cherish the “slower time” we still have.
Hello Anthony, I can relate to the feeling that time is flying by at a much faster rate than it previously was. As a child, five minutes felt like a whole hour but now, it is barely any time at all. Eighth grade seemed to last two years but junior year feels like it started two months ago. It was fascinating to dive deeper into the science behind this phenomenon and I appreciate that you cited credible research and statistics to support your claims. I also like the fact that you included an image in the middle of your blog, as it helps break up the text and makes your blog more visually appealing. I enjoyed your blog this week and all of your blogs throughout the year and hope you have a great summer!
ReplyDeleteHey Anthony, your blog is just SO relatable. Every year seems to be going by a little faster than the previous one, and time really does feel like it’s speeding up. I have thought about this a lot, and my thoughts are the same as yours, that the proportion of an interval of time to our lifespan is what governs our interpretation of time. Another theory is that as the amount of work increases every year, so does the amount of time spent in “autopilot”, allowing time to feel like it passes faster. Reading your blog, I was glad to see that someone else shared my thoughts, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.
ReplyDeleteHi Anthony, I completely relate to your blog. It feels weird, now that we’re 16-17, and just a couple years ago this age seemed so far away it was almost unattainable. But looking back, those years seem so recent. A decade goes by, and though that decade feels like a long time when we’re young, it feels so short now. I remember being 9, wishing I was a teenager. Looking back, it’s nothing like what I thought it would be. There have been so many changes in my life that, though it feels like a short amount of time, the past decade was full of growth and development, making this feeling all the more weird. I enjoyed reading your post, it brought back some memories, and I hope you have a great summer!
ReplyDeleteHi Anthony! Your blog topic really intrigued me. This is something that I have wondered about for a long time. Time seems to go by so fast. I remember a time when one year was so long. Even merely a week felt like forever as a kid. I have heard about the theory you talked about and it honestly makes me feel sad. The idea that your life seems faster because you experienced more of it and have less of it left is scary. I often hear my parents say that time goes by so fast. It makes me wonder if time will only get faster and faster. However, reading the last part of your blog made me feel better. Instead of focusing on how time seems to move faster you should just live life. Thank you for your blog, it was really insightful. Have a good summer!
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