THE NUANCE
Why Time Seems to Pass More Quickly As You Age, and How to Slow It Down Again
Your sense of time’s passage is tied to the memorableness of your experiences.
At the heart of a black hole, the force of gravity is so immense that it can bend time. Sometimes it feels like aging exerts a similar force.
The older you get, the more months, years, and even decades seem to slide by in a blur. Compared to your youth — when each year felt so substantial — the passage of time can feel like it’s gaining pace as the years add up.
This feeling of time speeding by as we age has long been a subject of interest and inquiry.
In 1890, the American psychologist William James observed that “the same space of time seems shorter as we grow older,” and recent research efforts have confirmed that most people experience this speeding-up phenomenon.
Why does this happen? Experts believe it’s tied to the creation of new memories.
The ‘Memory Content’ Hypothesis
I once spent six weeks in Scotland, followed by six weeks in southern England. When I think back on that time — all the places I visited, people I met, and new things I discovered — it feels like…
