Why Does Time Feel Like It’s Moving Faster After 2020?
A lot of people have noticed it.
You mention 2020 and someone says,
“Wait… that was six years ago?”
It doesn’t feel like six years.
It feels like three.
Sometimes even less.
I’ve thought about it too. And honestly, I feel the same. It’s hard to believe how much time has passed since the COVID era. It feels like we blinked — and years disappeared.
So the question is:
Did time actually speed up?
Or did something change in us?
Scientists Say Time Is Flexible
Research in psychology shows that our perception of time is not fixed. It’s flexible. Time feels different depending on what we’re doing and how we’re feeling.
We all know this from experience.
When you’re bored, thirty seconds feels long.
When you’re having fun, hours disappear.
Let’s try a simple experiment.
Go on your phone and watch a 30-second reel.
Then, put your phone down, sit alone, and count slowly to 30.
Which one feels longer?
Exactly.
They’re objectively the same length.
But your brain experiences them differently.
And that difference is everything.
So Why After 2020?
Smartphones existed before the pandemic. Social media existed. Netflix existed.
But something changed during quarantine.
We didn’t just use our phones.
We learned to live through them.
During lockdowns, our phones became our offices, our classrooms, our entertainment, our connection to the outside world. They weren’t tools anymore. They became extensions of us.
And during that same period, smartphone technology was rapidly improving. Apps became faster. Content became shorter. Algorithms became smarter.
Reels. Shorts. Endless scroll.
Everything designed to keep attention — and remove boredom.
The Death of Boredom
Before 2020, boredom still had space in our day.
Waiting in line.
Commuting.
Sitting alone.
Now? Those gaps are filled instantly.
There are almost no empty moments left.
And here’s the important part:
Boredom slows down time.
When you’re bored, your brain processes more awareness of time passing. When you’re overstimulated, your brain compresses the experience.
So if your day is filled with rapid, high-stimulation input — scrolling, streaming, switching between apps — your brain encodes fewer deep memories.
And when we look back on time, we measure it by memories.
Fewer distinct memories = time feels shorter.
Life Became a Blur
After 2020, many routines became digital.
Work online.
Entertainment online.
Socializing online.
Netflix hit new highs. YouTube exploded. Social platforms became even more dominant.
But passive consumption doesn’t create strong memory markers.
Think about it.
Can you clearly separate 2022 from 2023 in your mind?
Or do they blend together?
When days look similar, the brain groups them.
And grouped memories feel shorter.
It’s Not Just Technology — It’s Lifestyle
We replaced many real-world experiences with digital ones.
Less walking outside.
Less spontaneous interactions.
Less boredom.
And productivity routines shifted too. Many people moved from structured physical schedules to flexible digital ones.
Without strong structure, time feels less defined.
When every day has similar digital patterns, months slide past quietly.
So Did Time Speed Up?
No.
But our perception changed dramatically.
The more we live in fast, fragmented attention cycles, the more time feels compressed.
When we scroll, we jump between dozens of tiny stimuli per minute. The brain adapts to speed. And once it adapts, normal life feels slower — but retrospectively, it feels shorter.
It’s a paradox.
Fast stimulation makes the present feel busy.
But the past feel short.
So What Can We Do?
Maybe the solution isn’t “go offline forever.”
Maybe it’s reintroducing authenticity.
More walking without headphones.
More sitting in the sun.
More nature.
More boredom.
Yes — boredom.
Because boredom stretches time.
It makes moments feel longer. Fuller. More present.
And presence creates memory.
Memory creates the feeling of a rich, full year.
Not a blur.
Maybe Time Isn’t Moving Faster
Maybe we just stopped experiencing it deeply.
Maybe we filled every gap.
Maybe we never let ourselves sit with a minute long enough to feel it.
The question isn’t “Why is time speeding up?”
The question might be:
How can I live in a way that makes it feel full again?
Because six years shouldn’t feel like three.
And maybe the answer isn’t more content.
Maybe it’s more sun.
More walking.
More real conversations.
And yes — maybe even more boredom.
Time hasn’t changed.
But the way we live inside it has.
And that’s something we can still adjust. 🤍
