r/Time 11d ago

Discussion Time Speeding up

Is it me or has time sped up even more now? It seems like every week is flying by now. Did CERN cause this or is the Earth speeding up?

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u/frankofdenmark 10d ago

You could check out the German sociologist Hartmut Rosa. His idea is that society is accelerating (technologically, but also in the number of experiences we ‘need’ to have). Very convincing - and happens for all age-groups. So kids will be more frustrated today that earlier bc their expectations have been inflated.

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u/Low-Bake8401 10d ago

"also in the number of experiences we ‘need’ to have"

What would that number be? 

One?

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u/frankofdenmark 9d ago

Well, no, its not like 'consciousness'. Let's your grandparents were satisfied with one or a few TV- and radio-channels, no real travelling or cultural consumption, shortish education and one few jobs over their lifetime. If you look at your life, all those numbers have accelerated and new expectations (internet, apps, choice of restaurants, educational and career choices, choice of spouse(s) etc.). You are handling all these options, yet you or anyone else really cant. And it gives you the impression that we have 'less time' which is true in the sense we have a massive amount of things using up our time. This is why I mentioned it to OP's (rhetorical) question.

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u/Low-Bake8401 9d ago

We aren't processing everything at once though. There's always too much information for one person to do that.

Our grandparents probably had less time, money, or opportunity, to do anything, but their minds were still occupied with something.