Why Time Speeds Up as We Age, and How Stillness Slows It Down

The momentum of our age. If you’re in your 30’s, do you remember what was it like 10–15 years ago? Perhaps you were just starting your career, getting married, or began post-graduation. You remember your Nokia phone and low-rise jeans with tiny shirt as your dress code to everywhere dancing to “I’m a slave for you”. But I remember clearly it is not as slow as the 10–15 years prior to that, the time when we were just a kid (it’s the 90’s if you’re not aware), playing in-line skates and nothing to think about. The only time when dial-up modem sounds like music to your ears, Strangely it feels like twice the length of time I got from the latest 10–15 years. Yet it is the same amount of time… You might notice where I’m going, yep, in our next 10 years, when you’re in your 40’s time will be even faster and faster, years pass by like months and months pass by just like weeks. Occasions, Christmas, Hanukkah, Eid, Independence Day, will be just like another day, you won’t remember any trend as before because you’re already getting used to it. It feels like you’re experiencing time acceleration because it really is. It’s on how we perceive time relative to our already passed timeline to put the blame. One year in your 90’s will be felt 3 times faster than in your 30’s. Could you accept the fact your year span ahead will be discounted in a half every time? And to add to the warning sign, we haven’t got that much slot left to fill, in this chart of “The Life of a Typical American” by Wait But Why . Each slot represents week and vertical bar is where your year is at. You can see major events mostly concentrated in the top half of the chart. It’s depressing to see the chart of where we might be at and heading to if we’re just “carpe diem” and “let it flow”. When we’re realized, it’s often too late and time keeps free falling to the final end. Life is indeed too short to fussing around and procrastinating, too short to fulfill anyone else’s dream, too short to not having fun while contributing—that is responsibly following your passion. I hope I never really late again to learn this in life. In addendum: Inspired by this reality, I created my own chart in a whiteboard and keeping my progress of achieving goals. It’s harder than it seems to go off procrastination, but I keep my eye in a closer look this time,  

Why time seems to speed up

Part of the answer is how memory works. When life is full of new experiences, the brain records more detail, so looking back, that period feels long. When days follow the same routine, there is little new to remember, and weeks blur together. Psychologist Claudia Hammond calls this the “holiday paradox”: a week away feels short while it happens but long in memory, because it is packed with new moments.

Constant connection makes it worse. When every spare minute is filled with a screen, very little of the day is actually experienced. It is consumed. Time slips away not because it moves faster, but because we are rarely present for it.

How to slow time down

• Add novelty: a new route home, a new skill, a trip somewhere you have never been. New experiences create new memories.
• Track your weeks: like the whiteboard chart I keep, seeing time laid out makes each week feel real rather than abstract.
• Leave gaps: not every minute needs to be filled. Boredom is often where reflection begins.
• Practice stillness: meditation, a quiet walk, or an hour of doing nothing at all.

An hour outside of time

One of the strangest things people notice in a float tank is how time changes. With no light, no sound and no sense of gravity, there are no cues to mark the minutes. Some floaters feel the session pass in a moment; others feel it stretch far beyond an hour. Either way, it is rare to experience a full hour of simply being there, without anything pulling at your attention.

That is the point. We cannot stop time, but we can stop running alongside it. Moments of deep stillness remind us that the present is the only place we actually live, and that a life measured in weeks is best spent noticing them.

If you would like to try it, you can float at Ōmni Space, 16C Quoc Huong, Thao Dien, Ho Chi Minh City, open daily from 9:00 to 21:00.