Slowing Down
Why novelty improves our perception of time
Time Flies
The saying goes; time flies when you’re having fun. But what if it doesn’t? I have the most fun when I try new things, and find that when I experience newness, time slows down. They also say time goes by faster as you age. We tend to measure time by recounting significant events in our life and fewer of those happen as we grow older. Our first day at high school, our first beer, our first job, the first time we fell in love. The road to adulthood seems to last considerably longer in our memories; as though time was patiently waiting for us to grow up. When we mature, it no longer affords us that privilege. The human brain is indescribably brilliant. But human progress has evolved so rapidly, and the daily stimulation we are subject to has compounded so significantly, that our primitive brains are playing catch-up in an increasingly complex world.
It’s no secret that our cognitive dexterities degrade with time. A wise couple once told1 me that like taxes, there’s no avoiding i…