By: Pratyush Bardoliwala
As children, we may have all felt that time simply refused to move. A 40-minute lecture could feel like it lasted three hours, and we would keep looking at the clock, wondering how only five minutes had passed. But as we grow older, something strange seems to happen. Days, weeks and months appear to move faster. These days, an hour can almost feel like 40 minutes. A year that once seemed impossibly long can disappear before we even realise it. But is time actually speeding up, or is our brain simply experiencing it differently? The answer may lie in the way we perceive time.
So, what exactly is time perception? It is our brain’s ability to sense and judge how much time has passed. Unlike a clock, however, our brains do not experience every minute in exactly the same way. Our sense of time can change depending on what we are doing, where our attention is focused, how we are feeling and how much new information we are experiencing. Emotions can also influence this experience. A frightening or stressful situation can make a few moments feel much longer, while excitement and enjoyment can make time seem to pass quickly. That is why five minutes spent waiting for a bus can feel painfully long, while five minutes spent chatting with a friend can disappear almost instantly.
This perception of time also changes as we move through different stages of life. Think back to childhood. A summer holiday seemed to last forever, a birthday felt months away and even a normal school day could feel endless. As we grow up, however, our days become more structured. School is replaced by college or work, responsibilities increase and familiar routines become a bigger part of everyday life. Eventually, many days can begin to look remarkably similar. When that happens, weeks and months can start blending into one another, making them seem as though they passed much faster than they actually did.
And this is where our experiences can make a difference. When we are children, almost everything is new. A new classroom, a new teacher, a new friend, a family trip, a new hobby or even an unfamiliar place gives our brains something different to notice and remember. As adults, those first-time experiences can become less frequent. We already know many of the places we visit, the routes we take and the routines we follow. Familiar experiences may require less attention and can leave fewer distinctive memories behind. As a result, an entire week or month can feel as though it disappeared when we look back on it.
There is also a theory that looks at time in relation to our age. Known as the proportional theory of time perception, it suggests that the same period can feel different depending on how much of our life it represents. Think about a five-year-old. One year represents a significant portion of everything they have experienced. For someone who is 50, that same year represents a much smaller portion of their life. The theory suggests that this difference may influence how we perceive the passage of time as we age. It does not mean that our brains are consciously calculating percentages every year. Instead, it offers one possible explanation for why the same 12 months can feel very different at different stages of life.
There is another twist to the way we experience time. How long a period feels while we are living through it can be very different from how it seems when we remember it later. A boring day can feel incredibly long because we are constantly aware of the clock and waiting for it to end. Yet months later, that same day may barely exist in our memory. A two-week holiday can have the opposite effect. While we are enjoying it, the time may seem to disappear quickly. But when we look back, the different places, people and experiences can make those two weeks feel surprisingly long and memorable.
This is partly because our memory does not record every moment equally. Repetitive experiences can blend together, while unusual and memorable moments tend to stand out. A period filled with new experiences can therefore feel much richer when we look back on it than a period spent following the same routine. This may also explain why childhood can seem so long in retrospect. There were simply more firsts: the first day at school, the first best friend, the first family trip, the first time riding a bicycle or discovering a favourite song or film.
So, can we actually make time feel slower? Not literally. An hour will remain an hour, regardless of our age. However, we can make our experiences more memorable. Trying something new, breaking a familiar routine, visiting a different place, learning a skill or simply paying greater attention to moments we usually rush through can give our memories more distinctive moments to hold on to.
Perhaps that is the real reason time seems to fly as we grow older. The clock has not changed, but our routines, memories, attention, emotions and experiences have. The years may not actually be passing faster. We may simply be filling them with fewer moments that stand out when we look back. And sometimes, making life feel fuller may be less about slowing time down and more about giving ourselves something worth remembering.
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