Late for work, you run out of the house. Arriving at the bus stop, wait for public transport. In the face of haste, the waiting time becomes an eternity, when, in reality, you only waited a few minutes for the vehicle to stop in front of you.
The case above is an example of how time itself does not change, but our perception can make it appear to be faster or slower. A new study investigated our understanding of time during the Covid-19 pandemic and noted that some common factors during social isolation, such as loneliness, may be associated with an interpretation that the hours take longer to pass.
Published in the journal Science Advances, the research is signed by researchers from different institutions, such as the UFABC (Federal University of ABC) and the Instituto do Cérebro at Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein.
Before this investigation, others were already trying to understand how the quarantine period affected the person’s relationship over the hours. “One of the things that other studies already pointed out was that objective measures, such as age and demographic aspects, do not seem to be such good predictors of this sensation of change in the perception of time”, says André Cravo, a researcher at the Laboratory of Cognition and Time Perception at UFABC.
On the other hand, other factors that seem to be more related to the perception of time passing slower are what the authors call psychological measures, which were those related to aspects of well-being, loneliness and emotions.
“It is these measurements that seem to be more linked to this perception of time passing more slowly”, adds Cravo.
The research was done through a first questionnaire published on social media 60 days after the WHO (World Health Organization) decreed the Covid-19 pandemic.
“In the first moment of the research, we asked how the perception of time was at that moment and also how it was before [considerando a declaração da OMS]”, says Raymundo Machado, research assistant at the Instituto do Cérebro at Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein.
In this first data collection, almost 3,900 people responded to the questionnaire. Of these, approximately 65% were seen to report that time seemed to expand. “Temporal expansion is the feeling that time doesn’t pass, the person gets bored and feels like they have a lot of time”, explains Cravo.
Another axis observed was that of time pressure, which is related to the impression that there is no time to do everything one wants to do. In this case, issues such as stress and low availability for self-care tend to increase the perception that the time pressure is greater.
In the research, what the authors sought was to understand the reduction of this perception of pressure over time, something seen in approximately 75% of the responses in the first questionnaire.
After these data were collected, the study continued to see if these initial views would hold. In this case, weekly, questionnaires were sent to the participants of the first phase, very similar to the model of the first.
“For temporal expansion, it reduced a little when comparing the first moment and the last one. As for the decrease in temporal pressure, it did not change”, says Machado.
However, an advantage of having these other questionnaires sent out periodically was to see if the participants’ events of the week were related to their understanding of time.
For example, in some specific weeks, some respondents stated that they felt more alone and also reported that time seemed to pass more slowly. Others already said that they were more stressed and also reported that they felt an increase in temporal pressure. Thus, findings such as these confirmed what had already been observed in the first phase of the research.
Urgency and lack of control
Fully explaining the reasons why the understanding of time can change is not yet possible, but some studies have already traced some possibilities. One of them is that the more urgently you want something to happen and the less control you have to make it happen, the greater the impression that time drags by.
This is the case of the bus example. You have an urgency for him to show up soon to get to your work, but you have no control over it.
During the period of social isolation, this explanation can also be adopted. “People who weren’t coping well with the pandemic, like those who felt very alone, were possibly wanting the pandemic to end soon, but it was completely unpredictable when it would come to an end”, explains Cravo. Therefore, the impression that time was slower may have been greater in this group.
On the other hand, another pattern of individuals who did not have many problems with the pandemic period, would not feel so much emergency that the situation ended soon. “Possibly for these people, time has not expanded so much. It was not urgent that it end”, completes the researcher.
Another aspect that explains a change in someone’s relationship with time is psychiatric illness. Some studies already indicate that people who suffer from depression tend to have an impression that time takes longer to pass.
This aspect of alteration in the understanding of time and psychopathologies, however, can still advance. According to Machado, there is a lack of studies that investigate whether an altered perception of time can cause or worsen someone’s mental health.
“It would be interesting to get people who have that sense of [lentidão na passagem do tempo] and monitor them in order to see if the development of any possible psychiatric disorder would occur”, he concludes.
Chad-98Weaver, a distinguished author at NewsBulletin247, excels in the craft of article writing. With a keen eye for detail and a penchant for storytelling, Chad delivers informative and engaging content that resonates with readers across various subjects. His contributions are a testament to his dedication and expertise in the field of journalism.
