Calling the Psychologists (following the 30s thread)
Discussion
What is it do you suppose, that speeds up time, over time, all the time, so terribly?
There must be a perfectly logical explanation, one a PH head doctor could perhaps elaborate upon.
At 4, I remember being sent to school, and feeling doomed to the eternity of it all, even though my stay was probably only 15% of the day.
At 6, a single classroom lesson would drag for an excruciating 'balls across shards of serrated glass scraping eterinity'. I believe nearly died on numerous occasions, simply waiting for the bell.
By 16, time was flying nicely.
By 26, people were uttering WTF's, casting suspicious glances at desktop calendars.
A few years away from 36, I cant actually account for the last 3 years. The elder tribesmen enthusiastically maintain it gets worse every year, year on year. Every year, until we die.
There must be a reason which can be defined in context, but what is it?
There must be a perfectly logical explanation, one a PH head doctor could perhaps elaborate upon.
At 4, I remember being sent to school, and feeling doomed to the eternity of it all, even though my stay was probably only 15% of the day.
At 6, a single classroom lesson would drag for an excruciating 'balls across shards of serrated glass scraping eterinity'. I believe nearly died on numerous occasions, simply waiting for the bell.
By 16, time was flying nicely.
By 26, people were uttering WTF's, casting suspicious glances at desktop calendars.
A few years away from 36, I cant actually account for the last 3 years. The elder tribesmen enthusiastically maintain it gets worse every year, year on year. Every year, until we die.
There must be a reason which can be defined in context, but what is it?
my theory is it's based on 3 things, the mind getting better, less amazing things happening as you get into a daily routine, and finally it's the older you get, the smaller a year is in terms of your overall memory.
I'm pretty sure time perception is based on the number of thoughts you have made, if you are doing something with your mind switched off, times flies, if you are planning world domination, when you look back, you have a phonebook worth of thoughts in the last half hour, and with so much done, it seems to have been longer.
I'm pretty sure time perception is based on the number of thoughts you have made, if you are doing something with your mind switched off, times flies, if you are planning world domination, when you look back, you have a phonebook worth of thoughts in the last half hour, and with so much done, it seems to have been longer.
Loss of a broadly steady state physically.
In your 20's things seem to trot along with no great change but then hit somewhere between 30 - 35 and it all starts going west - the realisation that it is all starting to fall apart. You'll never look as good, be as slim etc
Genetics Vs Medicine.
I suppose that genetically we wren't meant to last this long but medicinal advances cheat the reaper & in our small timescale of existence we haven't had time to adjust to this, physically or mentally. Mentally is a bit further ahead but the physical aspect will most likely take a damn sight longer than any of us will be around.
We are still programmed for a lifespan of something like 35 - 45 or maybe not even that.
Attitudes.
Funny one this as it is made up of many things. Probably too many to be bothered with.
Society has a current (or maybe not) obsession with the drive for perfection, signified by youth & beauty (maybe). On the other hand, as you get older and are subsumed into the horrible mass, the driving force becomes wasting away your life at work/career (
) and the preception, rightly or wrongly that if you hit, say, 35 , you should want to be 65/75 or even 85. Also, many people wave the little white flag the second they have children, if they haven't done so already.
It really isodd but know a few people who seem absolutely determined to wish their life away, don't realise that there is most likely only one shot at this, get wierdly obsessed by the minutae of life and seem to be actively wanting to be as rock & roll as beige. f
k knows why - I'm going kicking & screaming!!!
My worst nightmare - One day you will wake up, your a director of the company but you have a quality comb-over & paunch combo and realise that you don't know your teenage+ kids. Nice salary & car but what have you given up for that and was it really worth working 60hr weeks to get a comfy car, a 4/5 bed detatched house that isn't in a war zone and a slightly shinier watch?
A seriously frightening thought but one that it seems so many people are prepared to give up so much for.
Watching the generations die off. Seeing rellies & role models in that box really accelerates everything.
Most people aren't sufficiently intelligent or wise enough to care.
Golf!!!
In your 20's things seem to trot along with no great change but then hit somewhere between 30 - 35 and it all starts going west - the realisation that it is all starting to fall apart. You'll never look as good, be as slim etc
Genetics Vs Medicine.
I suppose that genetically we wren't meant to last this long but medicinal advances cheat the reaper & in our small timescale of existence we haven't had time to adjust to this, physically or mentally. Mentally is a bit further ahead but the physical aspect will most likely take a damn sight longer than any of us will be around.
We are still programmed for a lifespan of something like 35 - 45 or maybe not even that.
Attitudes.
Funny one this as it is made up of many things. Probably too many to be bothered with.
Society has a current (or maybe not) obsession with the drive for perfection, signified by youth & beauty (maybe). On the other hand, as you get older and are subsumed into the horrible mass, the driving force becomes wasting away your life at work/career (
) and the preception, rightly or wrongly that if you hit, say, 35 , you should want to be 65/75 or even 85. Also, many people wave the little white flag the second they have children, if they haven't done so already. It really isodd but know a few people who seem absolutely determined to wish their life away, don't realise that there is most likely only one shot at this, get wierdly obsessed by the minutae of life and seem to be actively wanting to be as rock & roll as beige. f
k knows why - I'm going kicking & screaming!!!My worst nightmare - One day you will wake up, your a director of the company but you have a quality comb-over & paunch combo and realise that you don't know your teenage+ kids. Nice salary & car but what have you given up for that and was it really worth working 60hr weeks to get a comfy car, a 4/5 bed detatched house that isn't in a war zone and a slightly shinier watch?
A seriously frightening thought but one that it seems so many people are prepared to give up so much for.
Watching the generations die off. Seeing rellies & role models in that box really accelerates everything.
Most people aren't sufficiently intelligent or wise enough to care.
Golf!!!
Edited by ClintonB on Saturday 25th April 03:24
Edited by ClintonB on Saturday 25th April 03:25
Edited by ClintonB on Saturday 25th April 03:25
I think it's mostly down to how the mind stores memories, in a similar way to how a computer compresses files, your brain will stick similar memories into one 'box' that all sort of blends into one.
So basically when you are at work going the same way each day and doing more or less similar stuff all the time, those memories are all chucked into the same experience box. This is why your working week seems to go so fast when you look back, meanwhile if you go on holiday to a new place, this creates a whole new box of new experiences and memories that are unique, so a week long holiday somewhere new will seem like a month in the office when you look back on it.
When you are a kid, almost everything is a brand new experience and you are (supposed to be) constantly learning new stuff at school and being shuffled to new lessons all the time.
Also further to this, when you are somewhere new you pay more attention to your surroundings and what's going on. Thus when you go somewhere familiar your concious mind switches to 'daydream' mode and you continue to do things by routine subconciously. So on your drive to work you will be thinking about something else so it goes quick, but if you drive to an unfamiliar road then you will be at full attention absorbing your new surroundings, which creates more memories, so it seems like more stuff happened.
So basically if you can't get a job where you are doing something new all the time, then try and do something or go somewhere completely new each weekend and life wont seem to be passing you by quite so quickly.
So basically when you are at work going the same way each day and doing more or less similar stuff all the time, those memories are all chucked into the same experience box. This is why your working week seems to go so fast when you look back, meanwhile if you go on holiday to a new place, this creates a whole new box of new experiences and memories that are unique, so a week long holiday somewhere new will seem like a month in the office when you look back on it.
When you are a kid, almost everything is a brand new experience and you are (supposed to be) constantly learning new stuff at school and being shuffled to new lessons all the time.
Also further to this, when you are somewhere new you pay more attention to your surroundings and what's going on. Thus when you go somewhere familiar your concious mind switches to 'daydream' mode and you continue to do things by routine subconciously. So on your drive to work you will be thinking about something else so it goes quick, but if you drive to an unfamiliar road then you will be at full attention absorbing your new surroundings, which creates more memories, so it seems like more stuff happened.
So basically if you can't get a job where you are doing something new all the time, then try and do something or go somewhere completely new each weekend and life wont seem to be passing you by quite so quickly.
Isn't it something to do with freedom, responsibility and their relationship with time?
Up to 16 you have few of the freedoms adulthood enjoys. You have to go to school, you have do what parents say, you have little financial freedom, etc. But you also have little responsibility.
When you fly the nest, get a job, the freedoms increase, but slowly, the responsibilities do too. Then, children, mortgage, and the notion of 'career' rather than job take over.
You have all the notional freedom you need but also a great deal of responsibility which limits that freedom, usually in terms of time. Simply not enough hours in the day to fit what you want to do with what you have to do. Time becomes a more precious resource. Busy people don't notice the time as much, therefore days/weeks/months skip past at a scarcely believable rate. Time perception, like any form of perception is mediated by competing cognitive processes, -the notion that as computers our brains only have limited processing power and this is allocated by priority. So when you noted how time dragged in the classroom, the clock on the wall was your only focus amongst the lack of other stimulus. Now, at work with deadlines and plenty on your mind, the hours dance by with haste.
Bring in a sense of one's own mortality and things get worse.
Up to 16 you have few of the freedoms adulthood enjoys. You have to go to school, you have do what parents say, you have little financial freedom, etc. But you also have little responsibility.
When you fly the nest, get a job, the freedoms increase, but slowly, the responsibilities do too. Then, children, mortgage, and the notion of 'career' rather than job take over.
You have all the notional freedom you need but also a great deal of responsibility which limits that freedom, usually in terms of time. Simply not enough hours in the day to fit what you want to do with what you have to do. Time becomes a more precious resource. Busy people don't notice the time as much, therefore days/weeks/months skip past at a scarcely believable rate. Time perception, like any form of perception is mediated by competing cognitive processes, -the notion that as computers our brains only have limited processing power and this is allocated by priority. So when you noted how time dragged in the classroom, the clock on the wall was your only focus amongst the lack of other stimulus. Now, at work with deadlines and plenty on your mind, the hours dance by with haste.
Bring in a sense of one's own mortality and things get worse.
HRG said:
You're all wrong 
My theory is it's to do with how we perceive time as a percentage. When you're five a year is 20% of your life, when you're fifty it's 2% of your life ergo time appears to go ten times as quickly when you're older.
Thank you
That was my third point, which it seems you've forgotten My theory is it's to do with how we perceive time as a percentage. When you're five a year is 20% of your life, when you're fifty it's 2% of your life ergo time appears to go ten times as quickly when you're older.
Thank you
ClintonB said:
It really isodd but know a few people who seem absolutely determined to wish their life away, don't realise that there is most likely only one shot at this, get wierdly obsessed by the minutae of life and seem to be actively wanting to be as rock & roll as beige. fk knows why - I'm going kicking & screaming!!!
One day you will wake up, your a director of the company but you have a quality comb-over & paunch combo and realise that you don't know your teenage+ kids. Nice salary & car but what have you given up for that and was it really worth working 60hr weeks to get a comfy car, a 4/5 bed detatched house that isn't in a war zone and a slightly shinier watch?
A seriously frightening thought but one that it seems so many people are prepared to give up so much for.
Most people aren't sufficiently intelligent or wise enough to care.
Nail, head - I'm off to find some horny twenty somethings, don't waste a moment and all thatk knows why - I'm going kicking & screaming!!!One day you will wake up, your a director of the company but you have a quality comb-over & paunch combo and realise that you don't know your teenage+ kids. Nice salary & car but what have you given up for that and was it really worth working 60hr weeks to get a comfy car, a 4/5 bed detatched house that isn't in a war zone and a slightly shinier watch?
A seriously frightening thought but one that it seems so many people are prepared to give up so much for.
Most people aren't sufficiently intelligent or wise enough to care.
Perhaps when you are young many more of the experiences and events on a day to day basis are still new and novel. As such you are learning the ropes of life and creating a basis for future behaviours and interactions, this in turn means it is important for us to clow down and process the world around us. As you get older fewer experiences are new and as such subconscious responses can occur as a result of past experiences. You think about what you are doing less as your brain has adapted tot he world around you. So if at this stage you were thrown into a totally alien world you might then revert back to the younger learning stage where time passes more slowly.
(I made that all up, but I will have a psychology degree in less than 3 weeks time so we may therefore take it as fact!)
(I made that all up, but I will have a psychology degree in less than 3 weeks time so we may therefore take it as fact!)
Perhaps it is just due to the fact that as you get older you have more responsibilities eg job, paying bills, taking kids to school, deciding what to cook. More things that need doing in a shorter space of time. And that explains why having very little responsibilities at my age, time can really, really drag.
groucho said:
I remember New Year's eve party 1999/2000. Seems like 2 seconds ago. Crikey, I'm 46 now.
I remember that night too. 
I remember, because the children were tiny, we couldn't get a babysitter. So we stayed in and watched TV. To make midnight a bit more interesting, I said to my wife that I would buy whatever was on QVC at midnight - a yacht, a car, whatever. Turned out to be a collection of Abba CD's. Couldn't get through, nobody answered the phone.
Top night. How we laughed.
NDA said:
groucho said:
I remember New Year's eve party 1999/2000. Seems like 2 seconds ago. Crikey, I'm 46 now.
I remember that night too. 
Someone said on the other thread that at 35 we start counting backwards, I'm up for that, it means I hit 30 this year
thegavster said:
ClintonB said:
Nice salary & car but what have you given up for that and was it really worth working 60hr weeks to get a comfy car, a 4/5 bed detatched house that isn't in a war zone and a slightly shinier watch?
A seriously frightening thought but one that it seems so many people are prepared to give up so much for.
The problem with that statement is that it is entirely subjective. A doctor will work 60+ hour weeks and gets paid a good salary for it, is that not worth it? People have different aims and goals in life, some want to work 0 hours a week through to people who won't stop, the key is some form of equilibrium however you're not the one to tell them right or wrong. A seriously frightening thought but one that it seems so many people are prepared to give up so much for.
I'm sure I'm not alone but I may be a bit more unusual in terms of taking a step back and being able to look at this from something of an outside perspective.
The point was that far too many people get subsumed by the minutae of the working environment. Their intentions are usually honourable but they effectively go in too deep & usually can't see this in terms of the bigger picture. The general drive of faceless society tends to exacerbate this as well - if you like, the quest for productivity, efficiency & lower cost/greater profit tends to be, I don't know, 40-50% actually doing things better & smarter but just as often it is getting there by making the existing people work longer hours for little additional personal benefit.
Your choice of Doctors was an interesting one as they are probably a bit of anomaly in so far as they may work 60hrs+ but it tends to be 2-3 days continuous and then 3-4 days off (or something similar), so it is a bit different. However, in the world of business I see so many people who are on 'whatever hours are necessary' contracts working long hours in the week, working weekends, firing up the laptop/Blackberry at all hours and taking the things on family holidays and firing them up on the beach - I'm sure I'm not alone in this.
So, take someone who does 10 - 12 hours a day or more, add a couple hours a day of commuting, a day or two a week or more spent away from home & travelling or in hotels etc, some weekend work and so on. Add to that sleep and the essential mechanics of existence and it doesn't leave much left for the rest of life, does it?
I'm sure some people love or think they love it but in 99/100 cases, it is hardly a varied and enriching approach to what may well be a one shot hand. You may get some financial rewards & in a few cases those rewards may be great, but in most cases you are giving up so much in return for a more important sounding job title and a greater (but not great) financial reward. You might convince yourself and others that the material aspects are worth it, but I really would suspect that it generates more than a few regrets.
Overall, I'm not suggesting it is 100% wrong all of the time, just that the bias is at least bit wrong at the moment plus, to drag it back on topic a bit, it is very easy to see your years between 25 and 65 disappear very damn quickly by getting your mix a bit wonky and then realise that you don't have anything like enough of the wider experiences of life stored within the noggin, just a few elements of not all that special materialistic trinkets.
Then again, you could argue that all this doesn't really matter either way when you're shaking hands with the reaper since it ain't gonna help.You are still going to crap yourself silly for a period of time & then most likely be incapable of using this once you are in the box/urn :eek
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