Where Does the Time Go?

Have you noticed that the older you get, the faster time seems to fly by? The gap between today and a week ago doesn’t feel real anymore. Something that happened a year ago can easily be mistaken for something that happened just yesterday. Maybe it’s not that bad for everyone, but you get the idea. We go through our days, weeks, and months, and suddenly we wonder: Wait, where did all that time go?

What I’m trying to say is this: even if we technically have time, it doesn’t always feel like we’re living it. And the question that naturally follows is—why? And more importantly, can we do something about it?

One of the more straightforward explanations lies in how we grow and process the world around us. When we’re kids or teenagers, life is full of novelty. Everything is new—experiences, emotions, knowledge, places, people. Our brains are constantly working to absorb and make sense of it all, which makes those moments feel fuller, richer, and longer. But as we age, life becomes repetitive. We fall into routines, and even when we do something new, our brains often file it away under “something similar to what we've seen before.” It’s why we remember unique, one-time events so vividly, but struggle to recall anything specific from, say, last Tuesday.

This loss of novelty is made even more intense by something that’s especially relevant to millennials and Gen Z: the “permanently online” lifestyle. Phones, social media, and instant access to everything have become a natural part of our daily lives. We scroll through recipe videos, listen to five different takes on a global issue, and get bite-sized book reviews in under a minute— and that all happens without ever leaving our bed. On the surface, it feels like we’re doing a lot. But in reality, those experiences are often shallow, lacking the physical, emotional, and social layers that help our brains form deep connections. Watching a 30-second video about cooking isn’t the same as actually cooking. Reading a tweet about a book doesn’t give you the same mental journey as reading the book itself.

I stumbled upon a Reddit thread recently where people were talking about how time seems to pass more quickly than it did, let's say, 10 years ago. One guy shared that he spends around 10 hours per day on his phone, mostly watching short videos. His theory was that our brains aren’t built to handle thousands of tiny bits of content every day—especially not when they’re all fighting for our attention. At some point, the brain starts filtering things out. It stops bothering to form full memories because everything is happening too fast and too shallowly. We don’t give our minds a chance to absorb or reflect, so the days blur together. And when nothing stands out, time feels like it’s racing by.

There are probably dozens of other reasons this phenomenon happens, but most of them lead back to one thing: we need to slow down; we need to reintroduce depth into our lives. That might mean spending less time watching fast-paced content and taking our time doing things that engage our senses and attention in meaningful ways. It could mean becoming more present in the little routines of life or implementing new experiences, even small ones, to spark something different in our minds. Time isn’t speeding up, but the way we experience it is changing.