About Human Perception Of Time

[Power of Justice [JG]]

Human life isn’t short; people just make it seem that way. Realistically, it takes a person until the age of 25 for them to figure out what they want to do with their life, and they have until they are about 80 years old to get it done. This is a tremendous amount of time, yet for most people, it’s a blur, just one big nothing.

I'm at the age where I've begun to take notice of the passage of time. Suddenly, the years seem to pass so quickly, yet I also remember how slowly time seemed to pass for me in childhood and how eager I was to grow up. I thought, “Surely, the laws of the universe haven’t changed, it must be something in me that is different.”

As it turns out, we all experience the passage of time equally (everyone has the same 24 hours in a day), but everyone's perception of time is different. The general rule of thumb to remember is, “One’s level of cognitive processing is inversely correlated with the subjective passage of time.”

Activities that don’t demand much of our cognitive resources, like scrolling social media or sleeping, can make hours appear to pass in an instant. This means that the fewer cognitive resources are applied to processing less information, the faster time seems to pass.

Conversely, the more cognitive resources are applied to processing more information, the slower time seems to pass. An extreme example of this is when the fight or flight response is triggered, such as during a near-death experience. Many people report seeing in slow motion as the stress hormones in their blood force them to take in as much information as possible to help them survive.

Whenever we have a new experience, we are forced to pay attention and direct our cognitive resources to what is happening in front of us. Children, for example, know nothing of the world, and so they cannot help but study and explore every detail of their surroundings; everything is a new experience for them. That is why childhood seems to last forever.

However, as we get more familiar with our world, we need less raw sensory data from which to extrapolate our conceptual frameworks. We stop paying such close attention to our environment and increasingly begin to form more and more preconceptions about the world. This happens because it would be really hard to get anything done if we approached every situation like an infant, so we form preconceptions to save time and energy. This isn’t a conscious choice; the mind just takes shortcuts so it can free up cognitive resources for other tasks.

The only problem with this is that it causes people to live on autopilot. If you look around in public, you will see that most people aren’t really "there." They are just paying enough attention for their minds to fill in the blanks left by the absence of sensory data with what they expect to experience.

It takes very little cognitive resources to live on autopilot, which skews one’s perception of time, making it seem as if the years are passing in an instant. And so, people spend decades in this state, stuck in the same routine, living the same day over and over again, until they wake up one morning and realize that life has passed them by.

So, how do you combat the subjective acceleration of the passage of time? The easiest way is by enriching your experience of reality. Stop doing the same things the same way and safely introduce danger and challenge into your life so you are constantly growing as a being. This forces you to pay attention to what is happening in front of you, instead of continuing to run on autopilot as usual.

You can also practice mindfulness. Instead of mindlessly doing everything automatically, pay attention to your actions. Question yourself about why you do the things you do. Is there a better way to do them?

Lastly, if it’s at all possible, you can try doing less. The biggest enemy of mindfulness is busyness. Time moves faster the busier you are. Because you have to do 1000 things every day, you don’t really experience doing any of them. Choose busyness as a lifestyle, and your life will pass you by.

Without the sword of death looming over people's heads, constantly reminding them of their mortality, most people are perfectly content with just existing and not doing much. They will do anything for one more day of life, yet they are not even present in their lives most of the time. Don’t wait for a great loss or a terminal diagnosis to start living.

Extra information:

When people leave their minds on autopilot, they stop engaging with reality and fill in the gaps with their own extrapolated models of reality. This is how people get stuck in paradigms. They cannot see the world as it is; they can only see the world as they are, i.e., through their own screen of beliefs. So if a person is cruel and hateful because the world is unfair to them, then they can only see cruelty and hatred in the world and nothing else.

It is not possible to experience anything outside of your own consciousness. One of the consequences of this is that the quality of yourself comes to imbue everything that you perceive with itself, so that reality becomes a reflection of your being. Therefore, to escape from the cruel and hateful world, the person must resolve the cruelty and hatred within themselves. This is the meaning of the saying “change the world by changing yourself.”
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References:

Orion Taraban — Why time seems to move faster as you age: the relationship between perception and cognition

 

[SShiva_fr]

Excellent point of view. And, just what I needed.
Thanks for the perspective !

 

[Dragonheart666]

This is cool! Thank you for sharing this article. ️

 

[ScienceSerpent]

Thank you! You have just given me the answer to a great mystery!

“One’s level of cognitive processing is inversely correlated with the subjective passage of time.”

 

[Impetigo]

Very great. What an excellent gift you have offered everyone here with the goal of wisening us to better extend our perceptions of time.

I think we are "creatures of habit," and I've noticed my mind likes to develop patterns of behavior. We seek to apply the information we've absorbed already into our perception of reality.
Speaking from personal experience, it can happen that you get caught or locked in these arguably pre-determined patterns of behavior. The mind is as infinite as the universe itself, is it not? Mindfulness is really something to behold and boast. I yearn to have more of it, may the gods grant it to us all.

𐌔𐌔

 

[HPS Lydia]

Realistically, it takes a person until the age of 25 for them to figure out what they want to do with their life,

This is because these days, people are given too many options and told they can be anything, which isn't true.

Many people know from a young age what they want to do, but then get confused from school, peers, parents, and the media pushing them into everything else.

Some other people know from the age of 3 what they want to do, and they do it. A lot of firefighters, police officers, teachers, dancers, people in tech, and others, knew, and they grew up to become what they always wanted to be.

And then there are the people who still don't know where their calling is even in older years. It all depends on the person. Some people don't have a set path from their past lives so they drift from one thing to another, or stay in something while never feeling like they belong in it.

And other people find themselves through life experience or what they happen into, as JG Power of Justice mentioned with the age of 25.

 

[BlueWizard]

As this is common for us SS, this post is literally what I needed and came in great time.
For last couple of weeks I was trying to understand why does time pass me by so damn quickly, looking back and just couldn't understand why does it happen. It also felt for me like time was eternal in our childhood.
Now I barely look around and few months are already gone. We are so busy with our lives that we never really consider taking a step back and taking it easy.
It is true what you mentioned about boredom. I incorporated it as a practice in days when I usually dont work and tell myself I will be bored for few hours. Due to all these years of running around, working, stressing out etc, it is literally impossible for me to stay bored for more than 2 hours. It just feels like time slowed down by 10 times. And that is where we need to stay for a while.
I encourage more people to try this practice, the amount of possibilities one can achieve with just this simple thing is unimaginable.

 

[AscendingSerpent]

I came to the exactly same conclusion and I couldn't have express it better way. Its like you read my mind or we both were given the same insight by Gods.
Perfectly written.

 

[GoldenxChild1]

Excellent information! I notice that time has quickened its pace in my adult years, especially during those years where purposeless predominanted.

However, time, though still accelerated in comparison to my childhood, has slowed down to become enjoyable.

 

[Sun Squad]

Human life isn’t short; people just make it seem that way. Realistically, it takes a person until the age of 25 for them to figure out what they want to do with their life, and they have until they are about 80 years old to get it done. This is a tremendous amount of time, yet for most people, it’s a blur, just one big nothing.

I'm at the age where I've begun to take notice of the passage of time. Suddenly, the years seem to pass so quickly, yet I also remember how slowly time seemed to pass for me in childhood and how eager I was to grow up. I thought, “Surely, the laws of the universe haven’t changed, it must be something in me that is different.”

As it turns out, we all experience the passage of time equally (everyone has the same 24 hours in a day), but everyone's perception of time is different. The general rule of thumb to remember is, “One’s level of cognitive processing is inversely correlated with the subjective passage of time.”

Activities that don’t demand much of our cognitive resources, like scrolling social media or sleeping, can make hours appear to pass in an instant. This means that the fewer cognitive resources are applied to processing less information, the faster time seems to pass.

Conversely, the more cognitive resources are applied to processing more information, the slower time seems to pass. An extreme example of this is when the fight or flight response is triggered, such as during a near-death experience. Many people report seeing in slow motion as the stress hormones in their blood force them to take in as much information as possible to help them survive.

Whenever we have a new experience, we are forced to pay attention and direct our cognitive resources to what is happening in front of us. Children, for example, know nothing of the world, and so they cannot help but study and explore every detail of their surroundings; everything is a new experience for them. That is why childhood seems to last forever.

However, as we get more familiar with our world, we need less raw sensory data from which to extrapolate our conceptual frameworks. We stop paying such close attention to our environment and increasingly begin to form more and more preconceptions about the world. This happens because it would be really hard to get anything done if we approached every situation like an infant, so we form preconceptions to save time and energy. This isn’t a conscious choice; the mind just takes shortcuts so it can free up cognitive resources for other tasks.

The only problem with this is that it causes people to live on autopilot. If you look around in public, you will see that most people aren’t really "there." They are just paying enough attention for their minds to fill in the blanks left by the absence of sensory data with what they expect to experience.

It takes very little cognitive resources to live on autopilot, which skews one’s perception of time, making it seem as if the years are passing in an instant. And so, people spend decades in this state, stuck in the same routine, living the same day over and over again, until they wake up one morning and realize that life has passed them by.

So, how do you combat the subjective acceleration of the passage of time? The easiest way is by enriching your experience of reality. Stop doing the same things the same way and safely introduce danger and challenge into your life so you are constantly growing as a being. This forces you to pay attention to what is happening in front of you, instead of continuing to run on autopilot as usual.

You can also practice mindfulness. Instead of mindlessly doing everything automatically, pay attention to your actions. Question yourself about why you do the things you do. Is there a better way to do them?

Lastly, if it’s at all possible, you can try doing less. The biggest enemy of mindfulness is busyness. Time moves faster the busier you are. Because you have to do 1000 things every day, you don’t really experience doing any of them. Choose busyness as a lifestyle, and your life will pass you by.

Without the sword of death looming over people's heads, constantly reminding them of their mortality, most people are perfectly content with just existing and not doing much. They will do anything for one more day of life, yet they are not even present in their lives most of the time. Don’t wait for a great loss or a terminal diagnosis to start living.

Extra information:

When people leave their minds on autopilot, they stop engaging with reality and fill in the gaps with their own extrapolated models of reality. This is how people get stuck in paradigms. They cannot see the world as it is; they can only see the world as they are, i.e., through their own screen of beliefs. So if a person is cruel and hateful because the world is unfair to them, then they can only see cruelty and hatred in the world and nothing else.

It is not possible to experience anything outside of your own consciousness. One of the consequences of this is that the quality of yourself comes to imbue everything that you perceive with itself, so that reality becomes a reflection of your being. Therefore, to escape from the cruel and hateful world, the person must resolve the cruelty and hatred within themselves. This is the meaning of the saying “change the world by changing yourself.”
__________________________________________________________________________

References:

Orion Taraban — Why time seems to move faster as you age: the relationship between perception and cognition

For me, the topic is not fully covered, could you explain how I can use it in my life.

 

[Power of Justice [JG]]

For me, the topic is not fully covered, could you explain how I can use it in my life.

I literally cannot explain it any better.

 

[Sun Squad]

I literally cannot explain it any better.

I meant examples, because I read your posts and it often happens that you just abstractly describe some things without specific application. It seems to me that you were a demagogue in the past and still hold on to old habits, while giving useful information in a form that cannot help.

 

[Blitzkreig [JG]]

I meant examples, because I read your posts and it often happens that you just abstractly describe some things without specific application. It seems to me that you were a demagogue in the past and still hold on to old habits, while giving useful information in a form that cannot help.

He is giving information on an abstract topic that appears like he recently read. Then he takes time out of his day to present this to people in its current form, being honest that he cannot go further, and your response is to attack him for this?

If there was someone who holds the aggressive tendencies of a demagogue, I think you are the better definition of such, as you are insulting a JG for not giving you more of what you demand.

How exactly is he supposed to give you specific and tangible examples of what to do with your perception of time, of all things? Some amount of personal effort is required on your behalf. You cannot just attack him for not spoon-feeding this to you, besides the examples he already provided for altering one's perception of time.

 

[Hp. Hoodedcobra666]

I meant examples, because I read your posts and it often happens that you just abstractly describe some things without specific application. It seems to me that you were a demagogue in the past and still hold on to old habits, while giving useful information in a form that cannot help.

The original topic is also giving you more than one ways to "halt" the feeling of the passage of time, such as mindfulness, change of the "business lifestyle" and using your time and attention wisely. That is directly applicable to life, you just have to take this idea and see how it could better work based on your own life.

Demagogue is someone who uses lies or confusion in order to win a political office via deceiving the public who wants to vote.

If you are to use certain words or seek such elevated meanings, it would be important to know what accusations you are dropping also.

 

[HPS Lydia]

Lastly, if it’s at all possible, you can try doing less. The biggest enemy of mindfulness is busyness. Time moves faster the busier you are. Because you have to do 1000 things every day, you don’t really experience doing any of them. Choose busyness as a lifestyle, and your life will pass you by.

I love this part especially. I had the longest evening recently, I was just sitting there, asking my tarot and oracle cards various things for self-reflection (not divination), and time went so slowly, in such a lovely way

 

[Sun Squad]

The original topic is also giving you more than one ways to "halt" the feeling of the passage of time, such as mindfulness, change of the "business lifestyle" and using your time and attention wisely. That is directly applicable to life, you just have to take this idea and see how it could better work based on your own life.

Demagogue is someone who uses lies or confusion in order to win a political office via deceiving the public who wants to vote.

If you are to use certain words or seek such elevated meanings, it would be important to know what accusations you are dropping also.

From the way he answered, it definitely applies in this case. I like to think and all that, but why give just food for thought on a definitely vital topic, most people are depressed and ask to change it, and in this case, this person gives them food for thought, just like Jesus. And so he replies that he just can't go any further in this topic, which is actually a good answer for a person who just shared his thoughts, but not as for JG. And at the same time, he begins to blame me, while reminding me of his status, I have a facepalm