Have you ever noticed how time seems to fly when you are having fun, but drags when you are bored? This everyday experience shows that our perception of time is not constant. While clocks measure time evenly, the human brain experiences it in a much more flexible way.

One reason is attention. When we focus on exciting or new activities, our brain processes more information, making time feel faster. Conversely, during routine or uninteresting tasks, fewer memories are created, and time seems to slow down. Age also plays a role—children often feel that days are long, while adults perceive years passing more quickly, likely because of the way the brain encodes memories over time.

Psychologists also point to emotions. Stress, anxiety, or fear can make moments feel longer, while happiness and engagement can make hours seem to disappear. This subjective experience of time is a natural part of being human, influenced by attention, memory, and emotion.

In short, while time is constant in physics, it is experienced differently in everyday life. Our brains shape the way we feel time, making it a dynamic part of our personal reality. Understanding this helps explain why “time flies” or “crawls” depending on what we do.