Why Time Feels Like It’s Speeding Up: The Brain’s Trick on Perception
Ever get the feeling that life is stuck on fast-forward? One moment you're chasing fireflies on those endless summer nights of childhood, and the next, you're blinking, and a whole decade has passed. It’s like someone tampered with the space-time continuum—only instead of a DeLorean, we’re cruising in a minivan wondering where all the years disappeared to. If that sounds familiar, you’re in good company.
Scientists and psychologists have been unraveling this mystery for years, diving into research, cognitive studies, and even good old-fashioned observation to figure out why time seems to pick up speed as we age. And it’s not just nostalgia talking—there’s actual science backing up this time warp. A study from the University of Michigan found that around 80% of adults over 40 report feeling like time is accelerating. So no, it’s not just you.
The Two Faces of Time: Objective vs. Subjective
Before we start contemplating how to bend time like Doctor Strange, it’s important to get a handle on the basics. There’s objective time—you know, clocks, calendars, the universal ticking of seconds that supposedly moves at a steady pace. Then there’s subjective time, the one that really messes with our heads. This is our personal perception of time, influenced by emotions, attention, and memory.
Albert Einstein summed it up pretty well when he explained that time is relative—sit next to a heater for a minute, and it feels like an eternity, but sit next to someone you’re in love with, and hours fly by in a heartbeat. It’s the same principle behind why waiting for an email response from your boss stretches into eternity, but a weekend getaway feels like it ends before it begins.
It’s like that scene in Inception where each dream layer moves at a different speed. In the real world, time moves consistently, but inside our minds? Different story. And that’s where things get interesting.
Why Childhood Feels Like a Never-Ending Summer
One of the biggest culprits behind this whole time-speeding-up illusion is how our brains handle novelty. When we’re kids, nearly everything is a new experience—our first bike ride, the first time we hear a thunderstorm, that first taste of ice cream on a hot day. The brain processes these new events deeply, logging them into memory with vivid detail. And because there’s so much fresh information coming in, time feels expansive.
For a 5-year-old, a year represents 20% of their entire life. That’s huge. No wonder those early years felt like they stretched on forever. Meanwhile, by the time you hit 40, a year is just a small fraction of your life experience—barely a blip on the radar.
This ties directly into a concept called the oddball effect—our brains tend to stretch time when encountering something unexpected. Imagine looking at a slideshow: picture after picture of shoes, and then suddenly, bam—a bright red flower. That flower will feel like it appeared on screen longer than the shoes, simply because it stands out. Childhood is essentially a never-ending slideshow of red flowers—everything is new, exciting, and memorable. It’s like watching The Matrix for the first time, when every scene feels mind-blowing.
As we grow older and settle into routines, our days become filled with patterns—work, responsibilities, the same morning coffee, the same drive home. When nothing stands out, our brains compress the memories, and time feels like it’s flying.
The Holiday Paradox: Why Vacations Feel Longer in Hindsight
Mind blown yet? Kind of like that Matrix bullet-dodging scene—stunning, unexpected, and somehow stretching time itself. Childhood is packed with those slow-motion, high-definition moments, but they don’t just affect our perception of time while they’re happening. They also play a role in how we remember time.
Ever notice how vacations seem to last forever in hindsight, even if they felt rushed while you were on them? That’s the holiday paradox in action. When you’re caught up in the chaos of an itinerary—hopping from one sight to the next, figuring out logistics, deciding where to eat—you don’t feel like you’re slowing down to savor the moment. But later, when your brain processes all those new experiences, the sheer volume of memories makes it feel like you were away for much longer than just a few days.
It’s like binge-watching an entire season of Game of Thrones in a week. At the time, it’s a blur of betrayals, battles, and shocking plot twists, but afterward, you’ve got enough to unpack for months. The novelty overload stretches your perception of time when you reflect on it, making the trip (or show) seem far more significant in memory than a regular week of work.
Mindfulness: The Secret to Slowing Down Time
We’ve established that novelty can stretch time, but there’s another way to manipulate your perception of time: mindfulness. Yeah, it’s a bit of a buzzword, but don’t dismiss it just yet—it’s essentially a way to hack your internal clock.
At first, it might sound counterintuitive. Slowing down and tuning in to every detail of an experience actually makes time feel longer? But it does. There was an article in Restless that talked about mindful eating, where you focus completely on a single raisin—its texture, smell, taste, and even the sound it makes when you chew. Now, sure, spending an hour contemplating a raisin might not sound thrilling, but the idea is solid. When you stop running on autopilot and actually experience things fully, your brain logs those moments differently, making them feel more significant.
And this isn’t just about food. It works for anything—walking, listening to music, even washing the dishes. When you’re fully present, time stretches because your brain creates richer, more detailed memories. Think about reading a book. If you skim through it, you don’t retain much. But if you get completely lost in the story, it’s like you’ve lived an entire lifetime between the pages.
The same thing happens when you’re so focused on a conversation or project that you lose all sense of time. No DeLorean or flux capacitor needed—just pure attention. And the best part? Mindfulness is a skill you can practice. The more you train your mind to be present, the less rushed and overwhelmed you feel.
Of course, in today’s world, that’s easier said than done. Notifications, deadlines, and never-ending to-do lists make it feel like time is slipping through our fingers. It’s like trying to drink from a fire hose—constant stimulation, zero breathing room. But that just means mindfulness is more important than ever.
The Future Is Always Now: How Anticipation Warps Time
The idea of the future itself plays tricks on our perception of time. Just saying a year like 2025 makes it sound far off and futuristic—like something out of a sci-fi movie. But blink, and suddenly, it’s right here. That’s the wild part: the future never stays in the future for long.
Remember how Back to the Future Part II made 2015 seem like some distant, hyper-advanced reality with flying cars and self-lacing sneakers? And now? That’s practically ancient history. It’s not just nostalgia at play; the acceleration of technology, information, and societal expectations makes everything feel like it’s moving at warp speed. It’s like being a kid counting down to Christmas, except now there’s a new “big thing” demanding our attention every day—some new gadget, social media trend, or world event pulling us forward faster than ever.
It’s as if we’re all running on a treadmill that keeps speeding up, never letting us catch our breath. So, this time warp isn’t just about getting older—it’s about living in an age where the rate of change itself keeps accelerating.
Simple Tricks to Slow Down Time
The good news? You don’t need a time machine, a flux capacitor, or a mystical artifact to reclaim a sense of time. There are small, practical ways to slow down our perception of time—tricks that subtly nudge the brain out of autopilot and make everyday moments feel richer.
One interesting technique comes from a guy in a Positively Brainwashed video—he wears his watch on the wrong wrist. A tiny, almost ridiculous adjustment, but it forces his brain to stop and notice something different. It’s like a mental speed bump that interrupts routine, a small reminder to be present rather than lost in the endless stream of automatic actions.
That ties in with the idea of micro-adventures, which was explored in Restless. You don’t need to plan a grand, life-changing trip to shake up your perception of time. Just changing something—trying a new restaurant, taking a different route home, exploring a park you’ve never visited—adds novelty to your day and creates stronger memories.
It’s all about disrupting routine. Even small changes force your brain to engage with the present instead of letting the days blur together.
Mindfulness: The Ultimate Time Hack
Of course, we can’t talk about being present without mentioning mindfulness. It’s not just some trendy self-help term—it’s the psychological equivalent of hitting the brakes on that speeding treadmill. The more aware you are of each moment, the less likely time will feel like it’s slipping through your fingers.
And the best part? You don’t have to meditate on a mountaintop to make it work. Just paying attention—whether it’s to a meal, a conversation, or even washing the dishes—can make time feel slower and more substantial. The trick is simple: break autopilot, stay engaged, and let the present moment actually register instead of fading into the blur of routine.
Making Time Count: Awe, Wonder, and the Art of Slowing Down
You don’t have to meditate for hours a day to change how you experience time. Even just a few minutes of mindfulness—focusing on your breath, truly tasting a cup of coffee, or tuning into the sounds around you—can make a real difference. It’s like switching from fast-forward to play, actually letting yourself be present instead of rushing to the next thing.
And here’s the funny thing: slowing down is often seen as boring, inefficient, or even lazy. But as explored in that Matt D’Avella video, some of the most time-expanding moments are the ones filled with awe and wonder.
Think about it—watching a sunset, hearing a song that truly moves you, standing beneath a sky full of stars. These experiences momentarily take you out of the day-to-day hustle and remind you that time isn’t just something to manage—it’s something to experience.
It’s like those stunning time-lapse sequences in nature documentaries, where flowers bloom, clouds swirl, and galaxies drift across the cosmos. They give you a whole new perspective on time—not as something to outrun, but something vast, beautiful, and full of meaning.
The Key to Feeling Like You Have More Time
We can’t add more hours to the day, but we can make the hours we have feel bigger and more meaningful. It all comes down to quality over quantity—choosing to focus on the things that truly matter, rather than constantly racing against the clock.
Reclaiming our time isn’t about fighting against it. It’s about shifting how we think about it. It’s about realizing that time is precious—not something to hoard or control, but something to spend well. When we embrace new experiences, practice mindfulness, and allow ourselves moments of awe, time stops feeling like a blur and starts feeling like something worth savoring.
So, take a moment. Look up at the stars. Listen to a song all the way through. Get lost in a story. Let time be something you live, rather than something you chase.