Eli5: Why, if at all, does it seem like the years go quicker as you get older?

Question

I hear a lot of people making that remark, that the years go by quicker as you get older.
For me, at least, it seems like that’s only the case if nothing much changes in my life in that year.
To me, years seem to feel like they go slower if there’s lots of new/different things happening.

In: 348

Answer 1

The brain also works in shortcuts. Imagine the first time you saw a snake and thought “what is this?” and then it bites you. Lesson learned. The next time you come across one you don’t think “what is this?” again… your brain will automatically react and hop you out of the way before you even realize it was a snake. It saves you time (and potentially life). It does this constantly with all experiences making time seem to pass quickly by not stopping to analyze everything all the time.