Why Does Time Fly By As You Get Older?

NPR: Why Does Time Fly By As You Get Older?

As people get older, "they just have this sense, this feeling that time is going faster than they are," says Warren Meck, a psychology professor at Duke University.

This seems to be true across cultures, across time, all over the world.

No one is sure where this feeling comes from.

Scientists have theories, of course, and one of them is that when you experience something for the very first time, more details, more information gets stored in your memory. Think about your first kiss.

Neuroscientist David Eagleman of Baylor College of Medicine says that since the touch of the lips, the excitement, the taste, the smell — everything about this moment is novel — you aren't embroidering a bank of previous experiences, you are starting fresh. ...

Comments

[Alan Wilkerson]

Alvin Toffler in one of his trio of books talks about this. Don't have the direct quote but it's something like this.

a ten year old boy has to experience 1/10th of his life for Christmas to come around whereas a 50 year old only experiences 1/50th of his life a much smaller percentage.

Alan

[Josh Rowley]

I've heard the explanation Alan gives before; makes sense to me.

Michael, I noticed you're reading Ben Witherington's book Jesus and Money. I'm reviewing it on my blog.

[Michael W. Kruse]

Thanks for the heads up. I've got you in my Google Reader but I missed your first post.