G*Nice: What is it with this thing called time?

Can you believe that it's almost the end of October 2011 already? I, for one, can't get my head round how quickly the year has passed and, from speaking to others, I know that I'm not alone. It strikes me that if, universally, we are all feeling that time is going quicker, could it actually be happening?

The only tangible way that most of us have to visualise this is the corny device used in movies where the hands of clocks spin around really fast, but I'm pretty sure that's not happening. Whenever I find myself trapped in boring work meetings or stuck in queues at the traffic department waiting to pay my fines, I look at my watch like a maniac and, trust me, it's as if time is going backwards! Similarly, if I'm looking forward to a big football game or waiting for the time when I can go on holiday, the object of my desire seems permanently in the distance and it's as if I am running towards it in clown shoes over quicksand. So I expertly deduce that it must be the framework of our lives that seems to eat up time at moments when we are least aware.

I have one theory based on my experience. One of my jobs when I left school was in a record company, where I was in a team that sorted out the payments from CD sales to artists and publishers. The weird thing about this job was not only that I lasted two years in a post that was maths-based and really tedious, but I was working in quarters - in January I was already thinking about March because of payment deadlines. This was truly disorientating and was probably the first time that the sensation of losing all track of time became apparent.

Much has changed since then, thankfully, but for most of my working life, I've been in environments where I'm tackling projects months ahead to give me time to promote them. So maybe that is the plausible explanation - but that would only provide an answer for those of us who are old enough to be working. And yet almost everyone seems to be experiencing the same thing.

The influence of modern media could be highly relevant in shaping our experience of how time passes. With 24-hour news, internet and mobile telephones we are bombarded with events from the past, present and future at all times, creating an information soup for us to wade through.

Or maybe it's just me? Am I getting old and losing it? Maybe if I was on facebook more I'd be celebrating the now rather than just spinning in nostalgia? Naturally I have no answers or conclusions to leave you with… which is at least one constant in this ever-spinning world!

Tick-Tocking-ly yours,
G*Nice