What was time like growing up?

[Anonymous]

@Misswho23 – OMG, you’re ME! (without kids)

I just posted something on another forum about just this time perception subject…

I watched a show a few years back on either PBS or Discovery Channel about how different creatures (including humans) perceive the passage of time differently.

For example, to a slow-moving turtle, the rest of the world appears to be a speeding blur passing it by, while to a fast-moving creature like a cheetah all else appears to moving much more slowly than itself.

I found this on NIH PubMed:

1. Med Hypotheses. 2000 Oct;55(4):351-2.

Perceived passage of time: its possible relationship to attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Goddard J.

Preventive Medicine, The University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, Mississippi, USA.

Previous studies have shown that various factors may affect the perceived passage of time. Even boredom is thought to be related to a perception of time passing slowly. There might be an inverse relationship between brain processing speed and perceived time passage such that a slow processing speed would yield a fast perception of time passage. This could relate to attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) – it could be caused by a distorted sense of time in which time passes so quickly that concentration becomes difficult. Under this model, stimulants would be a logical therapy for ADHD patients.

Copyright 2000 Harcourt Publishers Ltd. PMID: 11000066 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE]

Not that this answers the question, just found it interesting.

I have the worst time perception. I’m with you, Tiddler, when you say “I think weeks have passed since an event and it’s been a year, or I think it’s been months and 10 years have gone past. I just can’t get to grips with how long ago my memories are unless I can root them in the time frame of a bigger event that I know happened at a certain point.”

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[Tiddler]

Do those of us with ‘time issues’ have a ‘shorter’ life than regular people? I mean, do we experience life as happening faster than people who don’t lose track of time? Or does the lack of understanding mean that we feel like we live longer?

I feel like life goes fast – I used to cry at every birthday – until I was 30. I don’t know if that was a symptom of a difficult childhood or a symptom of my ADHD making the years seem too fast.

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[Tiddler]

BTW I don’t cry at birthdays now. I’m 41 next month and it will be the 12th birthday where I will actually celebrate how flippin lucky I am, like I began doing on my 30th.

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[Rocky]

Yes, actually over the years (especially after high school), time has begun to feel like it’s going faster and faster. I think having different things to do makes time go faster.. I don’t know for sure.

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[Author]

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