Does Time Really Start To Fly OR Is Our Memory Failing?
By speakeasy
@speakeasy (4171)
United States
August 9, 2007 4:05pm CST
Like a lot of people I have found that time seems to go by faster and faster as I get older.
Also, like a lot of older people, I find that I really have problems remebering if I really did: turn off the lights, lock the door, or set the alarm?
Simple tasks like this that I do day after day in exactly the same way seem to disappear from my memory. I have taken short term memory tests and I am fine; but, those are something new and challenging.
The little daily tasks just seem to disappear. I know I locked the door when I left the house this morning; because, I remember doing it, I think? OR, am I really remembering one of the other hundreds of times that I locked the door? I can honestly say I do not have separate memories of each and every time I locked the door.
So have my memories disappeared, been discarded, or "overwritten" like a computer disk.
With a lot of little "disappearances" a day goes by really fast. So does a week, a month, or a year - making it seem like "time flies".
What do you think about this phenomenon?
3 people like this
9 responses
@redyellowblackdog (10629)
• United States
10 Aug 07
Behavioral scientists have hypothesized for a long time that time flys by quicker as you age because of the relative proportion of your life which is represented by a given amount of time. That is, when you are 10, one year is 10 % of your entire life. When you are 50, one year is only 2% of your entire life. Hence, when you are 50, time seems to proportionally fly by 5 times as fast. 10% divided by 2 % equals 5.
Anyway, that's what some people think explains time flying by as you get older.
1 person likes this
@redyellowblackdog (10629)
• United States
10 Aug 07
I agree with "some people" in this case. I don't know how you would ever prove it, but it makes sense.
@speakeasy (4171)
• United States
10 Aug 07
Do you agree with "some people" or do you have your own theory?
1 person likes this
@whiteheather39 (24403)
• United States
10 Aug 07
I don't agree that "With a lot of little "disappearances" a day goes by really fast" I just think it is because I am always doing something that keep me busy and there never seems to be enough time to do everything. This has always been a problem with me not just as I age. I have always enjoyed doing crosswords and mind puzzles so I make a point of doing a crossword every day to help keep my mind sharp.
@speakeasy (4171)
• United States
10 Aug 07
I do a lot of "brainwork" both at work and in my free time; because I do believe that "if you don't use it you lose it".
My IQ has not "slipped", my short term memeory (when tested) was fine, my long term memory is better than my husband's.
It is impossible for me to have either the time or the money to fully explore all of my interests.
But, can you HONESTLY remember what you ate for breakfast each day last week and the circumstances surrounding each individual breakfast (or do you think you remember because it is always the same).
I know that I ate the same thing for breakfast on 5 days and something different on the weekend; but, the actual memories "seem" to be "gone" or "blurred" together with a lot of other breakfasts.
@speakeasy (4171)
• United States
13 Aug 07
Actually, the fact that you eat the same thing all the time makes it easier to show that you do not remember EACH and every meal.
Looking back at your last week: do you honestly remember EACH meal separately or do they sort of blend together. You know you ate and you know what you ate; but, is each meal a separate distinct memory OR just a generalized "I know I did it because I always do" type of memory?
1 person likes this
@whiteheather39 (24403)
• United States
10 Aug 07
would be cheating as I eat the same thing everyday for breakfast lunch and dinner, (just switch between chicken and fish). I am weirds I have found this new healthy lifestyle and I love the foods I eat so as it is normal of me to always eat so much of a particular item until I get sick of it.
@lingli_78 (12822)
• Australia
10 Aug 07
i think that you are right... i feel that too... time goes faster and faster as years goes by... but i am fortunate that my memory is still serving me fine and thank God for that... well, that's why i always try to make full good use of my life and try not to waste time as it is very precious...
@speakeasy (4171)
• United States
10 Aug 07
I agree - time is very precious and there never seems to be enough.
@ElusiveButterfly (45940)
• United States
10 Aug 07
I think that we do these mundande tasks so often that it becomes second hand for us. It is only normal for us to think that we may have forgotten to do it.
One of my favorite quotes came from a coworker. He said that it wasn't that he couldn't remember anything, it was that at his age he had so much to remember that and his brain was overcrowded.
@speakeasy (4171)
• United States
10 Aug 07
Well, if he thinks it is due to "overcrowding"; it is probably an "retrieval" and we have a "faulty filing system".
@LittleMel (8742)
• Canada
10 Aug 07
I think it's both. my life has been hectic since last year I just don't know what to do sometimes. but the trend is going to change I know now what to worry and not to bother, reduce unnecessary stress and enjoy life more.
It happens because we are busy I think, it has nothing to do with age or memory failing.
@speakeasy (4171)
• United States
10 Aug 07
But, I was much busier when I was younger; and, time is flying by faster now than it did back then. In my 30's, I had a full time job, husband, child in elementary school (with cub scouts etc), a part-time small business, a Great Dane and 2 cats, an assortment of hermit crabs, gerbils, etc.; plus, I did a lot of gardening.
Now, I have a full time job, husband, my son is 22 (so, I don't have to invest as much time there anymore), 2 cats, 1 mouse, and my son and husband do my gardening for me.
But, time is passing much faster.
@arcidy (5005)
• United States
10 Aug 07
Well Technically time is just the same as always was even though we think its really fast or really slow time is always the same. But to answer your question the reason why time seems to go by faster when your an adult is because you have more stuff to do I know since getting a job the days just fly by unlike when I was jobless and doing nothing but the more stuff you have to do the more time will fly by fast.
@speakeasy (4171)
• United States
10 Aug 07
Perhaps; but, I have been working in one job or another since I was 18; and time is passing much more quickly now that I am over 50 than it did when I was 40 or 30.
When I was in my 30's, I not only had a fulltime job; I had a young child to care for, so I was actually busier then, than I am now.
@wifeofharvey (1156)
• United States
9 Aug 07
Interesting!
I think a whole lot of things are going on, one of them being [for me anyway] that as I have mobilty issues it takes me longer to do anything, so that makes anytime spent doing those things seem to fly.
The routine things-----I do think some of those routines are really good for us. I remember as my father got steadily worse with his dementia it was those habitual routines that made it possible for him to stay home and be cared for their longer.
I wish we could all get our memories 'defragged'
@speakeasy (4171)
• United States
9 Aug 07
Routines and habits are very useful things. They can prevent a lot of problems (or cause them if they are bad habits).
But, it does make me wonder about our brain's "storage facilities". Is there a limited amount of space - so that routine things get "dumped" or "overwritten"; or, is each memory and every action stored somewhere and repetitive tasks just get stored in areas that are harder to "access"?
@speakeasy (4171)
• United States
9 Aug 07
Well, you are also only 19. I am 51 and that is a lot of repetitive tasks.
But, you are right about when you are happy and/or busy time also flies by and if you are bored, it does drag.
One thing I have noticed, is that since I moved to AZ there is ONLY one way to get from my house to our nearest town where I work and shop. After driving the same route at least once a day every day - I honestly cannot remember the trip to or from home UNLESS something out of the ordinary happens. If an animal runs across the road or there was an accident or the lights were not working right, etc.; then, I will actually remember the trip.
