Recently, a friend and I were whining to each other about how time seems to speed up the older we get. I remember my parents talking about this phenomenon when I was younger. Now, I know exactly what they were talking about.
My friend said that his wise, old grandmother had a philosophy about time. She once told him that there is “slow time” when you are a child, “real time” when you are a young adult and “fast time” from middle to old age.
I think his grandma had a different understanding of time than a young male friend of one my daughters had years ago. He knocked on the door at around 2 a.m. and asked for my daughter. My wife, who answered the door, because I sleep like a rock, asked, “Young man, do you know what time it is?”
To which the teenager quickly replied, “Time , Mrs. Dickson, time is an abstract concept.” He was obnoxious, but he really was right. A recent “New Scientist” article expressed that ” there is no such thing as time in a metaphysical sense.” Stephen Hawking wrote basically the same thing in his famous book “A Brief History of Time”. Ask 10 scientists for their definition of time and you will likely get 10 completely different answers. It”s complex.
So, why does time seem to go by so slowly when we are children and speed up like a runaway train rolling down a mountain track as we age? I don”t think anyone knows for certain, but there are some assumptions, like the Proportional Theory. It suggests that as we age, each year is a smaller fraction of our life. So, at age 10, a year was one-tenth of our life. At 50, a year is one-fiftieth. It does seem logical that one-tenth of a life should appear to last longer than one-fiftieth.
The Biological Theory is another possibility. It posits that the speed of time is regulated by metabolism. A child”s heart beats faster, a child breathes more quickly and a child”s blood flows faster. The assertion is, a child”s “body clock covers more time within the space of 24 hours than ours do as adults.” which would make time seem to go by more slowly to the child and more rapidly for an adult.
The Perceptual Theory is based on the concept that the more information our minds have to absorb and process, the slower time appears and the less processing we do, the faster time passes. Children are constantly absorbing and processing, so time is slow for them, while, as we age, we tend to process less and time zips by.
The New Experience Theory says that children are being constantly bombarded with first time experiences and adults have new experiences much less frequently. Because of this, when a child looks back over a year of experiences it seems like forever, but an adult looking back on a year with few new happenings could ask, “Where did the year go?”
Personally, I like these last two theories because they provide opportunities, for those of us who are getting older, to slow down the appearance of the speed of time. By processing more information with our minds or by experiencing more new things in life, we, according to the theories, should be able to make time seem to go by more slowly.
Believe me, I”m all for that. It seems like only yesterday we were worried about Y2K, as the new millennium was racing toward us, and here we are already eight years into it.
Regardless of which theory is right or right for you, I do know that “One thing you can”t recycle is wasted time.” And, it makes no difference if it went by slowly or rapidly. So, it behooves us to use all of the time that we are fortunate enough to receive as wisely as possible.
Gary Dickson is the publisher of the Record-Bee. He can be reached at gdickson@record-bee.com or called direct at 263-5636 ext. 24.
