Why half of the life you experience is over by age 7

[Boats]

Why half of the life you experience is over by age 7
By: Ana Sanson - The Washington Post 07-23-15
Re: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...you-get-older/

[In HC's most recent post it made me think? Why is time so slow as a
kid and why it speeds up as an adult - read below].

Have you ever observed that time seems to be going by faster as you get older?

There's a reason that one summer seems to stretch out forever when you're a kid, but zips by before you know it when you're 30. That reason is perspective, as a gorgeous interactive visualization, by Austrian designer Maximilian Kiener, demonstrates.

When you're one year old, a year is literally forever to you -- it's all the time that you've ever known. But as you grow older, one year is a smaller and smaller fraction of your total life. It's like watching something shrink in your rear view mirror.

This idea has stunning implications. It means that parents actually see their children grow up much faster than children perceive themselves to be.

It means that waiting 24 days for Christmas at age 5 literally feels like waiting a year at age 54. It might also explain why kids on car trips are always asking that annoying question, "Are we there yet?" A car journey actually feels longer to kids than it does to adults.

It's a simple concept, but the feeling is explained beautifully by Kiener's interactive. The interactive has you painstakingly scroll through each year, and experience how time seems to speed up as you "get older."

For example, when you are one year old, a year is 100 percent of your life. As Kiener writes, this theory was first put forth by Paul Janet in 1897. (Click on the image to enlarge.)

But the proportion falls sharply as you age. As you scroll through the years, you notice that each year takes significantly less time to pass by than the first. By the time you're eight, a year is only 12.5 percent of your life.

By 18, that proportion has fallen by half again. One year is now 5.56 percent of your life. As Kiener writes, your summer vacation in your first year of college feels as long as your whole 76th year.

After 30, the proportion begins to level off, and each year of your life is similarly short. By the time you're 35, one year is 2.86 percent of your life.

At 98, it's about 1 percent.

Kiener attributes this idea to Paul Janet, a French philosopher. The idea is that we perceive time by comparing it with our life span: The apparent length of a period of time is proportional to our life span itself.
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Personal note: I've sometimes said where in the hell has time flown by?
I recall some of my youger days but only a quick flash and reality comes in.
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Today I say - Wow! As I post this I catch my self only seeing quick memories
of days gone by and yet each day - to me anyways - seems to fly by so quick
of late that I want it to slow down.
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My oldest sister died the other day. So have my grand-parents - parents and
even my brother and sister(s). I say well - I can see that I'm next in the
food chain (that's how I've always called it). Childhood was long but now
I realize - hey your next! Am I lucky or what? Maybe its a penalty I have
to deal with. I always would say why my family & friends - why not me?
What makes me so different that I see them go and I'm still here? Is it
something I've done that keeps my from dying sooner. Yes I would say
because they were better than me and I have to suffer their loss and
carry their memories.
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Is it a gift the Almighty has given to me - so as to carry their ideas
and memories? Or is this a punishment? I've heard it said the Good
Die Young! It's true and yet we witness their pain and suffering and
we carrry their memories as I'm still here - why? I'm sure theology
has an anwer (talk to a Priest or Reverene - they always seem to
come up with someting to comfort the issues of death).
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My service days were long ago but at times - I flash back to the
VN war and recall the wounded and the killed - I always get asked
that at the VA? I mention that when asked but for some reason I
can park it away. At the VFW I go to I see other's like me and we
often times avoid the things we saw and did. But if you look into
their faces and eye's as they do mine - we see guilt in one another
like those we lost were better than us - why were we so lucky not
to be killed? I used the words like its a crap shoot - you were
lucky it wasn't you. We got to come home - raise a family and
grow old - are we better than them - hell no! - just not our time
a priest would say.
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Today we fight amongst ourselves as civvies. We were color blind
during the battles - we would watch each other's back. Why
doesn't that apply today - as civvies? What changed?
If you have the answer's let me know. God Bless America!
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