Are You Pressed For Time? Or Are You Controlling Time?
By Junyeon Cho
What keeps us moving forward in our lives? Many people will think that time is the driving force behind our lives. Time sometimes flows in a way that is hard to understand. Sometimes time moves slowly. For example, when I study grammar that I hate, I feel like I studied for about an hour, but when I look at the clock, only 5 minutes have passed. But sometimes time flies when I do something that I like. I often enjoy playing online games with my friends in my break time. When I was in the middle of playing the game, I suddenly looked at my watch, “Wow, it’s been that long.” Why does time feel fast or slow depending on what we experience? Is it related to our memories that we feel the flow of time differently?
Time is sometimes called the fourth dimension, something that can be considered primarily an internal phenomenon. Time always flows steadily and objectively, but our subjective perception of time is known as chronology and is being studied by researchers in various fields. What all these scientific disciplines have found is that memory is linked to our ability to perceive time. This means that if we have memories of having fun doing something in the past, we will feel that time flies when we do something similar in the present or in the future. Similarly, if we have done something boring or unwilling in the past, we will think that time will go slowly when we do something similar again. This comes from our memories that we can predict how long it will take us to do it.
What is more interesting is that this phenomenon does not only apply to fun or boring things, but that it happens more often as you get older (Wong, 2015). According to scholars, time flies when we first encounter something, and we first encounter most things when we were young. First meeting with a friend, first entrance ceremony of school, first time getting scolded by a teacher, and first love, etc. When we were young, we first encounter these things. Psychologists explain that adulthood has fewer new and memorable experiences than childhood, and that the older you get, the more you see the world, the more monotonous and empty each day could become. One neuroscientist explains that the more familiar the world becomes, the less information our brains use, everything feels familiar and repetitive, which is why people think time flies as they get older (Woehrle & Magliano, 2012). The more stress we get in our busy daily lives, the more we focus on that stress and just try to spend the day as soon as possible. When that happens, we do not have time to build up detailed memories. Therefore, our perception of time moves fast.
So, how can we make our lives more relaxed? First, focus on the present. Stop thinking about and comparing the past and what will happen in the future, and focus on the now. Next, continue to create new experiences. For example, if there was a restaurant that I wanted to go to, but I have not been there on the pretext of being busy, go to that restaurant and try new food. New experiences are soon stored as new memories. And it will be converted into 'joy' or 'happiness' and will remain in my brain for a long time.
The speed of time depends on the state of your mind. Depending on the state of mind, the outside world seems to be moving fast or slow, but the outside world moves fast when the mind is unstable (Payne, 2019). I think about what I did all day at the end of each day. If I find out that I have not done anything for a day, I feel anxious as if time has passed quickly. To solve this problem, I think about a little bit about what I am going to do today before I start my day. Eventually, the person who can plan and act will be able to lead his or her life without being pressed for time. If you feel that time is passing fast now, why don't you write down what you have to do today and what you want to do?
References
Payne, K. (2019, June 16). “Viewpoints: Time Flies When You're Raising Kids; or Does It?” HeraldNet.com, HeraldNet.com, 16 June 2019, https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/viewpoints-time-flies-when-youre-raising-kids-or-does-it/
Woehrle, J. L., & Magliano, J. P. (2012). Time flies faster if a person has a high working-memory capacity. Acta psychologica, 139(2), 314–319. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22246199/
Wong, K. (2015, Dec 3). “Why Time Feels Like It's Flying By (and How To Slow It Down).” Lifehacker, 3 Dec. 2015, https://lifehacker.com/why-time-feels-like-it-s-flying-by-and-how-to-slow-it-1745852093