Most people reach a point in life when the thought becomes unavoidable: time is speeding up. Childhood felt expansive, even slow. Adulthood, by contrast, seems to rush forward, with years disappearing almost unnoticed. This experience is so widespread that it feels self-evident—but it is neither imaginary nor merely sentimental.
Modern research in psychology and neuroscience shows that the sensation of accelerating time is a predictable outcome of how the human brain processes memory, attention, and experience across the lifespan.
Time Is Objective — Perception Is Not
Clocks measure time with perfect consistency. Human perception does not.
The brain does not experience time directly; it infers time from change. When there is a lot of change—new places, new emotions, new learning—time feels expansive. When change is minimal and days resemble one another, time compresses.
As we age, the balance between change and familiarity shifts dramatically.
Why Childhood Felt Longer
Early life is defined by novelty. The brain is encountering the world for the first time, and it responds by recording experiences in rich detail. This high-density memory formation makes even short periods feel long in hindsight.
In childhood:
- Experiences are new and emotionally intense
- The brain encodes memories with high resolution
- Days contain many distinct mental “markers”
Because the brain later uses these markers to judge duration, childhood appears longer and fuller than it actually was.
Adulthood and the Compression of Time
As people age, life becomes more structured and predictable. Familiar routines replace constant discovery. While this stability has clear advantages, it also changes how time is perceived.
The adult brain becomes more efficient. It stops recording repeated experiences in detail and instead compresses them into categories. Five similar workdays may be remembered as one generalized impression rather than five distinct memories.
When the brain looks back, it finds fewer reference points—and concludes that less time must have passed.
The Role of Novelty and Neurochemistry
Novel experiences stimulate dopamine, a neurotransmitter essential for learning and memory. Dopamine enhances attention and deepens encoding, making moments feel vivid and substantial.
With age:
- Novelty naturally decreases
- Dopamine-driven memory encoding becomes less frequent
- Fewer experiences stand out as distinct in memory
This does not mean life becomes less meaningful. It means fewer moments are neurologically flagged as “time markers,” accelerating the feeling of passage.
Attention Shapes the Speed of Time
Attention is another powerful regulator of perceived time.
When attention is deeply focused—on a conversation, a skill, or a meaningful task—time often feels slower in the moment and richer in memory. When attention is fragmented or absent, time disappears without leaving a trace.
Modern adult life tends to reduce sustained attention. Digital distractions, multitasking, and constant mental preoccupation pull awareness away from the present. As a result, days feel busy but empty, long while happening yet short in retrospect.
Emotional Intensity and Temporal Experience
Emotion also alters time perception. Intense emotions—positive or negative—stretch subjective time. Calm, emotionally neutral states compress it.
As people mature emotionally, they often experience fewer extremes. Emotional regulation improves, which is beneficial for mental health, but it also reduces the emotional contrast that once slowed time down.
Life becomes smoother—and faster.
Routine: Efficiency With a Cost
Routine is one of the strongest accelerators of perceived time. When days are similar, the brain stops distinguishing between them.
This does not mean routine is harmful. It simply means that without variation, the brain records less, and what is not recorded feels as though it never happened.
Can You Make Time Feel Slower Again?
While chronological time cannot be altered, subjective time can be expanded by increasing memory density and attention. Research and experiential evidence point to several reliable strategies:
- Introduce novelty, even in small ways
- Break routines intentionally
- Practice sustained, focused attention
- Create meaningful events that stand apart from daily life
These practices do not slow the clock, but they make life feel fuller—because more of it is remembered.
Time Isn’t Accelerating — Memory Is Compressing
The feeling that time speeds up with age is not a personal failure or a loss of appreciation. It is a natural byproduct of a brain optimized for efficiency, stability, and survival.
Understanding this reframes the experience. Time does not vanish because life is shorter. It vanishes because fewer moments leave a mark.
7 years in the field, from local radio to digital newsrooms. Loves chasing the stories that matter to everyday Aussies – whether it’s climate, cost of living or the next big thing in tech.
