Flying Past or Moving Slow? Why Time Feels Weird in Lockdown

Flying Past or Moving Slow? Why Time Feels Weird in Lockdown

Some people may think the days have been speeding by during lockdown. For others, time may be passing at a snail's pace. Experts have explained to Newsweek why we "feel" time and what this might mean for how we remember lockdown.Phrases such as "a watched pot never boils" and "time flies when you're having fun" point to the fact that humans experience similar phenomena in how they observe time.It is often thought that we experience time as moving faster when we're not focused on it or are otherwise distracted. At the same time, time may feel slower if we're bored or paying too much attention to the clock.

Scientists have attempted to measure such experiences in the lab. Peter Tse, professor of cognitive neuroscience at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, subjected participants to boring events followed by a more surprising stimulus. Participants reported that the surprising events felt like they lasted 50 percent longer than the boring ones.There are a number of theories to explain this. All three of the time perception scientists Newsweek spoke to disregarded the idea that we have an internal clock measuring time, as some researchers previously believed.Why we feel timeAccording to Tse, our experience of time