The secret to slowing down life
Focusing on unique experiences is one way to help, especially as we get older
There are number of notable celebrities — Madonna, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sharon Stone, Alec Baldwin — turning 60 this year. They all still look fantastic but, like the rest of us, are probably experiencing the unwelcome sense that time seems to speed up with each passing year.
What causes this sensation, and is there anything we can do to slow our sense of time passing?
When something new and different happens, we pay careful attention, noting every detail and creating elaborated memories. This enhanced focus makes it seem as if time slows down. Recall, for example, your first time away from home during the holidays, or your first day in a new job. However, as you become used to particular circumstances — once you’ve been working in that new job for a few weeks, or once you’ve lived away from home for several years — you begin to make assumptions, overlooking distinctive details in favour of broader categorizations. You simply dismiss entire experiences as “another day at work” or “another (holiday) break.” This is in stark contrast to the way you experienced life when you were a child, when each event seemed new and different, and wasn’t simply filed into a pre-established category.
Mark Landau and his colleagues at the University of Kansas decided to test the hypothesis that when we group events together rather than thinking about the uniqueness of each moment, it will make it seem as though time speeds up. He also wanted to know if categorizing events across greater expanses of time made a difference. He asked participants to write down their experiences during the last year. Half were asked to recall them in terms of their similarity to previous events, and half to consider how their experiences might have turned out differently.
Those encouraged to group experiences according to similarity reported time passing more quickly than those who were encouraged to avoid categorization. He asked another group to estimate how long they’d spent carrying out each of four activities — socializing, attending school/university, working and pursuing other activities — during the last day or the past year. Those asked to categorize events across a greater time span perceived time as passing more quickly than those who reflected on events during a shorter period.
It isn’t, therefore, inevitable that time will seem to speed up as you grow older. You can counteract this perception by deciding to get more out of every moment. Resolve to pay more attention to whatever you’re doing, and avoid broad categorization. Instead, consider what’s unique about any given moment, how each of your experiences differs from all the others — even if you’ve done something similar many times before.
This fresh, childlike view of the world will not only “slow” time, but it will also enhance your experience of each moment throughout your life — however many birthdays you celebrate.