The fraction of a lifetime
Chapter 1

The math of shrinking years

Chapter 2

The power of first times

Chapter 3

The brain's ticking clock

Chapter 4

Reclaiming your days

YOUR GOAL

Master of Why time feels faster

Ch 1 · The math of shrinking years
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futura Our brains do not count linearly

Jul 24

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futura Janet's Law

Each year is a smaller slice of your life (oh, a tiny slice!) / Time flies as your story grows (yeah, it's flying fast!)

Jul 24

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futura Why childhood summers lasted forever

Jul 24

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Our brains do not count linearly

futura Humans naturally perceive many physical scales logarithmically, which distorts how we measure the passage of time over decades.

Jul 24

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Why childhood summers lasted forever

futura Long childhood summers feel endless because they represent a much higher percentage of our conscious memory than adult seasons.

Jul 24

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The Time Squeeze
BETA

futura Drag memories onto the timeline to discover why time feels faster as you age.

Jul 24

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Fun Fact

The Janet theory: In 1897, philosopher Paul Janet calculated that a single year feels roughly eight times shorter to an eighty-year-old than to a ten-year-old child.

Jul 24

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Glossary
proportionality (noun)
The state of corresponding in size, degree, or intensity to something else. French philosopher Paul Janet applied this mathematical principle in 1897 to describe how humans perceive aging.

Jul 24

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Gossip

Does a school year feel longer to you now than last year?

Jul 24

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Quiz

Which philosopher popularized the proportional theory of time in 1897?

Jul 24

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futura The fraction of a lifetime

Jul 24

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Quiz

If we measure time proportionally, at what age is the subjective midpoint of an 80-year life?

Jul 24

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futura The strange holiday paradox

Jul 24

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Quiz

What is the name of the phenomenon where a trip feels fast while happening but long in retrospect?

Jul 24

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Quiz

Which 19th-century German physicist proved that humans perceive stimuli logarithmically rather than linearly?

Jul 24

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Quiz

Which of the following best describes Paul Janet's proportional theory of time?

Jul 24

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Quiz

Why do childhood memories feel more expanded in our minds compared to adult memories?

Jul 24

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Quiz

What happens to our mental file size for routine, repetitive adult activities?

Jul 24

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Quiz

At age 10, what percentage of a person's total life does a single year represent?

Jul 24