Is Time Speeding Up?

Tick, tick, tick. If it feels as though the seconds are speeding up lately, you might not be imagining that time is going by faster than ever. Earlier this year, scientists revealed that on July 9 and 22, as well as Aug. 5, the planet's rotation quickened relative to the sun, which shortened the days by a millisecond or so. Scientists say there has been a slight quickening in the Earth's spin since 2020 with the fastest day recorded in July 2024 at 1.66 milliseconds shorter than average (forbes.com). The standard length of an Earth day is 86,400 seconds, but the Earth's rotation can be slightly irregular, somewhat due to the gravitational pull between the Earth and its moon. Of course, such tiny increments of time matter purely to the global timekeepers who maintain the synchronization of Coordinated Universal Time down to the nanosecond using atomic clocks. Universal technology like GPS systems, banking networks, large telescopes and other servers rely on this accurate synchronization. In efforts to control this gap, global timekeepers started to insert what's known as "leap seconds," which means they added an extra second as needed. This began in 1972 and was most recently done back in 2016. However, if this speeding up continues it might necessitate subtracting a leap second instead of adding one. This change would be imperceptible to most people, but deleting a leap second has never been attempted and could mean issues for the previously mentioned large global networks. It all remains to be seen. The science of time aside, there are a few psychological reasons why your hours and days seem to be flying by at lightning speed. These factors are related to one's age, experiences and activity engagement. First, experts have hypothesized that as we age, a year seems to go by faster because it is a shorter chunk of your cumulative life; a year is 20 percent of a 5-year-old's life versus two percent of a 50-year-old's life. Also, time speeds up because we don't have as many novel experiences as young people do. The monotony of our routines starts to blend together and become unmemorable, whereas for a child every day is full of learning and seeing new things to remember. As our brains age, they process information more slowly and can handle fewer mental images per second, which contributes to reducing the density of memory and the perceived speeding up time. In general terms, the more information we process, the slower times will pass. Have you ever noticed that a minute spent watching the microwave timer seems to pass more slowly than a minute spent watching TV? The activities we spend our time engaged in can play a huge role in time perception. The massive influx of screens into our daily lives has impacted the apparent speed up of time as well. Increased digital media input can overwhelm the nervous system and disconnect us from internal body rhythms. Time spent "falling down the rabbit hole" of a social media app can mean that multiple hours fly by with minimal effort or acknowledgement. Engaging content creates a flow state, although boring screen tasks can make time drag. If screens can seemingly speed time up, what can slow it down? Experts have a few recommendations for manipulating time perception as we age. They say to consistently try new things in your life and challenge yourself to novel experiences in order to form unique memories. Put the screens down and spend time practicing mindfulness, choosing activities that keep your focus on the present. Reflective practices can also help. Going through past events in a mental review and looking through old photos can help to reset a sense of time. Inevitably, time will tick on at the same speed as it has for centuries. It's our perception of the clock's impact on our lives and how we choose to spend our time that truly matters.