Enter the Matrix — The Science of Slowing Down Time
Mar 4, 2025
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In this insightful discussion, psychologist Steve Taylor, author of "Time Expansion Experiences," dives into the fluidity of time perception. He explains how our experiences can stretch or compress time, particularly in critical moments like accidents. Taylor explores why time seems to speed up as we age and shares strategies to slow it down, enhancing our life experience. The conversation highlights the psychological transformations during intense situations and the benefits of mindfulness and new experiences in altering our perception of time.
Time perception is subjective and influenced by factors like age, novelty, and immersion in activities, expanding or compressing our experience of time.
Engaging in new experiences and altered states of consciousness can enhance life satisfaction and create a lasting sense of time stretching.
Deep dives
Understanding Time Expansion Experiences
Time expansion experiences occur when individuals perceive time as stretching far beyond its normal flow, often taking place in emergencies or unique states of consciousness. These moments can make a few seconds feel significantly longer, providing individuals with heightened awareness and calmness despite the potentially dangerous situation. Examples include car crashes, where people report intense clarity and the ability to take life-saving actions despite the rapidity of events. Research suggests that all experiences of time expansion stem from altered states of consciousness, which shift the perception of time from a linear perspective to a more fluid one.
The Four Laws of Psychological Time
The research outlines four key laws related to the perception of time, the first being that time seems to speed up as people age, which is a common phenomenon experienced universally. This acceleration can be attributed to the proportional theory, where different life stages represent a smaller fraction of one's total life, making them feel less significant. The second law indicates that exposure to new experiences and environments slows time perception, as increased information processing creates a feeling of time stretching, such as when traveling to unfamiliar places. The third law states that being deeply absorbed in activities, whether work or entertainment, tends to compress time, making hours feel like minutes.
Time Perception in Altered States
Time seems to stretch during intense altered states of consciousness, such as accidents or moments of extreme calm like meditation. In emergencies, the interruption of normal psychological processes often leads to unexpected time expansion, with many individuals reporting feelings of tranquility amidst chaos. Conversely, near-death experiences can result in dramatic time dilation, with individuals feeling as though they are living hours' worth of experiences during mere seconds of clinical death. Such findings highlight how the same core principles apply across varied contexts, suggesting a universal mechanism influencing time perception.
Practical Applications for Time Manipulation
Individuals can actively influence their perception of time by intentionally introducing new experiences and challenges into their lives to combat the feeling of time speeding up with age. Engaging in novel activities, such as traveling to new destinations or trying new hobbies, can not only enhance life satisfaction but also elongate the feeling of life itself. Methods from martial arts and meditation are suggested for deliberately cultivating altered states that naturally expand the experience of time, allowing individuals to enhance their focus and absorb their environment more completely. By integrating such practices, people can shift their relationship with time and create more memorable experiences.
People commonly think of time as a fixed, linear, objective structure. But our own experiences belie this belief. We’ve all been in situations where time has seemed to drag on or speed up, and there are even whole periods of our lives that seem to have gone by slower or faster.
As my guest Steve Taylor will explain, time is a lot more fluid and moldable than we often recognize. Steve is a psychologist and the author of Time Expansion Experiences: The Psychology of Time Perception and the Illusion of Linear Time. Today on the show, he unpacks the four laws of psychological time. He discusses the theories as to why time speeds up as we get older and what factors slow down and speed up time. We delve into the way time particularly expands in accidents and emergencies, giving people the ability to take life-saving measures. And we discuss why some people are more likely to have time expansion experiences than others, and what you can do to slow down time and make your life feel longer as a result.