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Good Question: Why Does Time Fly As We Get Older?

(WCCO) As we approach the Minnesota State Fair and the summer draws to a close, you'll get different reactions from children and adults.

Summer was "very long" according to a 9-year-old. But it "whizzed by" according to that girl's mother.

Why does time seem to fly as we get older?

"Time is one of the few fixed constants in the universe," said Bob Kane, M.D., director of the Center for Aging at the University of Minnesota.

But Kane said there is a perception issue at work here, for a couple reasons.

"If you think about a child, I mean their whole frame of reference is built on a couple years," according to Kane. "Every increment is a bigger piece of their life. As you get older, every increment is a smaller piece, the denominator is bigger."

So one year for a 10-year-old is 10 percent of his life. One year for a 50-year-old is 2 percent of her life.

But according to Kane, that's only part of the issue.

"We are just hyper-aware of a whole bunch of things as adults that children aren't. I watch my grandchildren, each activity consumes them. While they're doing their activities I'm thinking about six other things. So we just view the world so differently," he added.

As we age, we don't have the typical mile markers that young people use to keep track of time.

Children wait for Spring Break, summer vacation, holidays, etc. Adults go to work. All the time.

"You're constantly asking yourself how many more things can I accomplish before my time is up. Each moment becomes a little more precious," he added.

"When I look at my grandchildren and remember when I was their age, a grownup was 18-years-old. Now an 18-year-old is a child," said Kane.

"If we could really extrapolate this concept and sort of make each day precious because we prize them more because they appear to be fewer, we would lead more meaningful lives," said Kane. "However, doing that on a daily basis unless you're a Tibetan monk is pretty impossible."

 

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