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by Tondoteottotote on October 18th, 2005

Tondoteottotote

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Why does it seem like time goes faster as you get older?

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  • by Merry Walker on October 21st, 2005

    Merry Walker

    When you're five years old, a year is one fifth of your life. That makes it seem like an impossibly long time, especially if you're five and have to wait until next year for something you really want.

    In comparison, when you're 20, a year is only one twentieth of your life, and while the days don't exactly fly by yet, a year doesn't seem like the eternity it was at five.

    By the time you're 50 and a year is only one fiftieth of the time you've experienced, a year whips by pretty quickly.

    That's the main reason that time seems to go faster as we get older. Another factor is how we spend time. Children are incredibly focused in the now. They are totally present in moment, totally absorbed in whatever they're doing. As we get older and begin to do more and have more complex thought processes, we begin to perceive time a bit differently. Unfortunately, it's hard to quanitfy these kinds of perceptions, so it's hard to say how much this really impacts our perception of time as we get older.

    Comments

    • Excellent answer - hours, days zoom by too.You think 30 min passed. Clock says 2 hrs.Yikes!

      Jodie44

      by Jodie44 on October 23rd, 2005

    • oh yes, it is all about proportion. When a year is 10% of your life, it lasts forever. When a year is 2% of your life....

      lynnenorth

      by lynnenorth on December 8th, 2005

    • great answer and I thought I was the only one, who thought time flew by!

      Answers101

      by Answers101 on March 15th, 2006

    • Good Answer

      science_geek

      by science_geek on March 28th, 2006

    • Very well put, this is exactly what my professor and I had a conversation about one day.. to read in more detail how this phenomenon works, check out http://www.questionyourtheory.com/why-do-the-years-go-by-faster-as-you-get-older

      Arshammm

      by Arshammm on December 2nd, 2009

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