Things i have noticed since i was a kid

originally posted by: Cheddarhead
Time does seem to be going faster, but think of this.

When you were 5 years old, one year was 20% of your lifespan. As you get older, that same 365 days now equals a smaller percentage of your life and it feels like time is flying by. Not necessarily anything abnormal or mystical, just your perception of time passing has changed.

This could be part of it... But I think novelty is more effective on time perception. How long have you been "going through the motions"? When was the last time you explored new horizons, new scenarios, or did something that scared you? I remember my last 3 years of highschool flying by, but my first semester of college seemed like the span of all 3 of those years combined.

When we explore new scenarios/stimulus, time slows down. When we find ourselves in the same routine for prolonged periods, time speeds up.

originally posted by: Jonzie
a reply to: TechniXcality This photo is breathtaking. I can only imagine how beautiful the scenery is in peron. Wow!

You'll have to ask Eva.
Great colours in that photo though.

originally posted by: tinker9917
a reply to: Picollo30

I have also noticed (beginning a few years back ) that the sun is now "whiter", instead of the yellow I remember as a kid.

Ok, now this is creepy, my mother, me and some other people noticed the same....Sun is brighter, feels scorching, not just warm, etc.
Of course, it is rather impossible, that Sun changed since 80's, but...
that feeling...

I was born in the 70s too. I think that the sun is definitely more aggressive, it is more bright white than yellow orange. You can feel it on your skin that the sun has changed. almost like putting up a magnifier glass.
I remember that we had four seasons in the year and now it's almost like either hot or cold not much of a spring or fall anyone.
Something is changing for sure.

a reply to: Picollo30

In 1995 or perhaps the year before I felt as though something strange was going on with the sun. At times the light seemed whiter at other times it would appear almost blue white. Then it would return to the warm yellow of most of my life.

I had cataracts removed from both eyes in 2003. The bright white light of the sun on a cloudless day is like something from another planet. I have had 12 years to adjust my expectations since the removal of the cataracts. But it still looks white to me.

originally posted by: Picollo30
I was born in 1975 so i'm an 80's guy. I was born in an era where there were no computers or they were in their early stages, so kids used to play outdoors all day, only coming home when it was getting dark. Those were great days, and people seemed happier and healthier.

But that's not the reason i'm making this post, although it is connected in some way because when i was a kid and being outdoors playing i had the time to notice some things. Days are now shorter, time is speeding up a lot, a year passes by in a flash. Other things i've noticed the the sky and the sun colors. The sun is now xeon white and very bright when in the 80's it was yellow in colour. This was the thing that made me post this today. i was out and looked at the sky and the color of the sun was white and i recalled those early days when the sun had a different color, was warmer instead of agressive like the sun we have today.

Also the blue in the sky is different, when i was a kid it used to be a very light blue now its kind of a greyish blue. What changed, i dont think colour perception changes as we age, at least not that significantly and i'm only 39 with no eye problems that i know of.

Can pollution be causing this change in colour in the sky and sun or maybe the disruption in the ozone layer is causing it? What about the speeding time, can big earthquakes be shortening days and speeding up time?

We are of the same brethren. I realized this change about 4 years ago. The air has changed. Yet, I can still smell Orange blossoms, lavender, a woman's perfume. Unfortunately, the body odor of our homeless persons, we can still smell.
My suggestion is to get out more. Go to the beach in Seattle. Go to New York City and SMELL EVERYTHING!!. It is HUMANITY!

As Descartes said... One cannot trust ones senses - or something like that.

We can't trust our memories. It takes a while for people to trust in the notion that they cannot trust their senses, especially memories.

What you remember may be true, it may not - but one thing is certain - over time memories distort for a multitude of reasons and there is an ultra high chance that what you remember is not what the reality was.

Yes the sun is different. I grew up like you OP, during the 80's with a mama that told me to go outside and don't come back until dark. The sun is whiter, feels hotter on the skin too.

The weather in central LA is different too. I remember when I was a kid, sometimes it would rain for days non-stop. So much so that I remembe having to sit in the house and entertain myself for days on end. Now drought seems to be the norm with burn bans all the time.

a reply to: cooperton

I agree with this completely. How many times have you been excited to go somewhere new, and it seemed to take forever to get there, but the ride or trip back home seemed like it only took a fraction of the time.

I tend to agree with the op about the environmental changes, even if they are only perceived changes. I was born in 1969 and remember the sun being more yellow as well. A few people attributed that to our eyes having adjusted or changed due to staring at computer monitors or TV's for hours at a time, and that certainly makes sense.

originally posted by: peter_kandra
a reply to: cooperton

I agree with this completely. How many times have you been excited to go somewhere new, and it seemed to take forever to get there, but the ride or trip back home seemed like it only took a fraction of the time.

I tend to agree with the op about the environmental changes, even if they are only perceived changes. I was born in 1969 and remember the sun being more yellow as well. A few people attributed that to our eyes having adjusted or changed due to staring at computer monitors or TV's for hours at a time, and that certainly makes sense.

You know what? You may be right.
Maybe TV(devices) advancement had changed OUR eyesight...?
I wonder, if people without TV's could confirm, that Sun seems different to them, too...hmmm.
Also - CRT tv users, what do you think?
Since most of people changed CRT for LCD's(LCD tv, computers, laptops).....maybe this is the reason...
(sorry for my english...).
p.s. I will not discuss speed up of time, I realized, that it is natural thing - as we get older, time seems to flow faster...just that.

For the past few years I've also noticed a difference in the sun. It's brighter and it feels as those my skin is being poisoned by it instead of the nourishing warmth I used to feel. It got me thinking of the art in the 90's of the angry sun. An entity that kills us rather than supports life. I'm interested that others are noticing the same.

a reply to: Picollo30

Seriously..... How can this be a thread.... Its been explained numerous times.
Yes I feel that time goes by faster too but that as well as visual perception changes A LOT. Are you seriously suggesting that you believe that just because things felt different once that its thw outside world that changed?

YOU changed.... YOU got older.... Your perspective has changed.... Your points of references changes...... You body is already in the decaying stage where your senses get weaker, and your system will behave differently to things you used to love.

Heck I cant eat spicey food anymore because my stomach gets upset.... I used to love chilli in my younger years.

your memory is the least trustworthy thing you have. Look at pictures and movies for proof of that. The skies on a clear blue sky day are just as blue and vibrant as they ever were. the sun is just as bright and colorful as it ever was. (you can't stare into it anyway, so how would you know what color it was?)

Perception becomes reality. Unless you check your facts.

And time is relative. As was mentioned. I was born in 69 and time flies by now.

originally posted by: peter_kandra
How many times have you been excited to go somewhere new, and it seemed to take forever to get there, but the ride or trip back home seemed like it only took a fraction of the time.

Yeah, perfect example.

originally posted by: and14263
We can't trust our memories. It takes a while for people to trust in the notion that they cannot trust their senses, especially memories.

Never thought of it like that before. Good call.

a reply to: Picollo30

Your avatar... is that The Metamorphosis...?

Born in 1971 here. What I have noticed is that Green Beans in a can are no longer "green". They are more of a brownish green.

Oh and it's "BerenstiEn".

originally posted by: and14263
As Descartes said... One cannot trust ones senses - or something like that.

We can't trust our memories. It takes a while for people to trust in the notion that they cannot trust their senses, especially memories.

What you remember may be true, it may not - but one thing is certain - over time memories distort for a multitude of reasons and there is an ultra high chance that what you remember is not what the reality was.

originally posted by: network dude
your memory is the least trustworthy thing you have. Look at pictures and movies for proof of that. The skies on a clear blue sky day are just as blue and vibrant as they ever were. the sun is just as bright and colorful as it ever was. (you can't stare into it anyway, so how would you know what color it was?)

Yes it's nearly white but for reasons not well-understood people sometimes seem to perceive it as yellow. As you said if you stare at it you're probably just damaging your eye so you can't tell what color it is with the naked eye.

You and and14263 are right about untrustworthy memory, in fact I made a thread about that topic:

You Have No Idea What Happened (We get many details wrong when recalling past memories)

Not only is memory very faulty, but our initial senses aren't reliable either. I remember an old guy telling me chickens don't taste as good as they used to. As he smoked his cigar, I couldn't help but wonder how much of that perception was from the toxins in his cigar damaging his taste buds so he couldn't taste the chicken as well as he used to.

I don't think there are any significant changes in the sky or sun that are visible to the human eye, with the possible exception of more jet contrails with increased jet traffic.

There are some things that have changed though which we can prove...the packages of stuff we used to buy in the grocery store were once 16oz packages, then they were 15oz, then they were 14oz, then they were 13oz, then 12oz, and now about 11oz. I guess that's their way of raising the price without making it so obvious that's what they are doing?

a reply to: eluryh22

no its from the Outer Limits series - The Zanti Misfits

a reply to: Arbitrageur

sorry but its not my memory, the sun has always been yellowish and i could stare at it for some seconds, something that's impossible to do now as it is so bright.

a reply to: Picollo30

So strange, I was wondering about the sky color just the other day. I'm a child of the 70's and spent a good deal of my early years outside and I can remember how a cloudless summer sky looked a darker blue than it appears to me in my adult days. A beautiful almost azure blue. Now it never seems to be that intense of a blue.

As for the years slipping away, it might just be perception. As a child, my days (especially those before school and forced structure) were days that began happy and full of potential to imagine, play, explore, learn and ended slowly with chirping crickets and favorite TV shows - then snuggled safe in my bed dreaming of all the things I could do tomorrow. So many tomorrows.

Every day was magical - I could dream about being so many things in that oh so far off future. Limitless possibilities...Then with the years came the learning of limiters. What to believe, what to reject. The cruelty, selfishness, greed of my peers and scarier, that of our authority figures. The magic was stripped away year by year.

I also learned early, that I, under no circumstances, would ever be a beautiful princess and live in a castle - because the reality of genetics and social status. LOL

Now full days are spent in boxes. The home box, the auto box, the office box, the cubicle box, the auto box and back to the home box. Wash, rinse repeat...ad nauseum. In the end they just put you in an overpriced box. The days are long and boring but in retrospect they go so fast. Perhaps because time is perceived by memory and most days are the same old same old and not remembered at all. Why would I want to remember being stuck in traffic or editing unremarkable spreadsheets?...Well, that's just MY take on it.