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

When you are 1 year’s old that year has been 100% of your life. It feels long. When you are 50 year’s old a year is only 5% of your life. Because when we’re younger the total amount of time we have been alive is much higher percentage of your total experience it feels longer.