Modernization makes older adults feel rushed, too

New international study on time perception among older adults Rapid societal changes can leave us feeling more rushed and pressured for time - and older adults are no exception, new research finds, led by Weill Cornell Medicine with participation of researchers of Humboldt University. The phenomenon known as "social acceleration" - in which economic growth and modernization increase the sense of time pressure - has mostly been studied in younger and middle-aged working adults, said Corinna Loeckenhoff, professor in the Department of Human Development in the College of Human Ecology and associate professor of gerontology in medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine. But the new study by an international team of collaborators is the first to show similar effects among older adults long out of the workforce. For them, the researchers speculated, balancing leisure and volunteer engagements or pursuit of a "bucket list" might account for feeling greater time pressure compared with a generation ago. "It is well documented that people tend to feel more rushed as societies move towards modernization, and changes in the workplace were thought to play a key role in raising the sense of time pressure," Loeckenhoff said. "But we're finding that older adults are feeling more rushed as well. This suggests other factors such as leisure activities and everyday social interactions contribute to these effects." Loeckenhoff is the lead author of "Sociohistorical Change in Urban Older Adults' Perceived Speed of Time and Time Pressure," published June 28 in Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences.