I'm talking about the way we perceive time. Everyone perceives time differently but what i'm talking about happens when you do something that's repetitive. For example going to class/work, watching TV, driving, most of your daily activities. Your brain enters a sort of "autopilot" in which you kind of go through the motions without thinking about what you are doing. This is why time flies when you are having fun. This is why you can watch TV for hours without realizing it. A way you can get out of this and reach awareness is by paying attention to all the senses and your surroundings. Hopefully you can find out what I'm talking about seeing as this is a confusing subject for most people to grasp. It makes more sense when find out that time is simultaneous and only the way you perceive it is linear. Ask me any questions you have
It's rather peculiar that when the task is repetitive , but boring it seems longer compared to tasks that are enjoyable. Do you think it's because with a boring task our minds wander , we check the time , and try find an entertaining memory to ponder about? Compared to an amusing task we're more engaged and perhaps forget or have no reason to check the time , making it seem so short. If we are somehow more mindful of the "boring" tasks will time seemingly pass as fast as an enjoyable task?
Im sure associating time with numbers vastly changed the way we perceived time as well. Us modern humans are the only ones that think of time as 2pm, 6am, 10 minutes, 5 days ago, etc. Maybe animals understand "Time" more than we do =0
Yeah that plays a part of it too because you pay more attention to other things. It may not only happen with repetitiveness but that is the usual cause. I'm don't know so much about the numbers idea but I know that because we have we have set time which ideally can sync peoples time perception if they keep checking the time. But I think before they invented time people would go by sunrise/sundown
As Einstein said - time is relative. Our experience of time depends on our state of mind. Come into the present, which is basically what happens when you give what is happening now your complete and total attention, and time passes more quickly because in a way you have moved outside of it. You actually age a little slower as a result.
Our perception of time is dependent on our perception of experience. What I mean by that is that if we are occupied with a boring task, like you said - whether said task is done on "autopilot" or not - we tend to compare tasks that we have planned to the one we're busy with. You're sitting there thinking, "Damn, I can't wait for that party tonight. I hear Claire's going to be there, I can't wait to see her." And in that moment, you start planning what you could do. Remember: thinking about something and doing it, fires the same neurochemicals. In doing so, you are shifting your awareness from the present, to a place without time - to your mind. Ergo time flies, because your perception of it changed. This all happens because there is no time in the mind. Does that make sense to any of you?
Depends on what your watching, right? Those who TV is a waste of time still haven't switched to digital.
Could there be such thing as "wasting time"? There isn't like an intrinsic goal in life, so even if say the boring things are perceived as a waste of time it's not necessarily so. the times that seem like we're "wasting time" may have been the best times of our lives like, just chilling , getting high and listening to some jazz and classical music. Ponder about oneself and build the relation with oneself and feel content. I enjoy it and , life should be enjoyed , so I don't think it's a waste of time.