When Time Flies So Fast: Is Time Blindness Real?

The passage of time is something that comes naturally for most people, but not all. Time blindness is a real condition.For most people, having an innate sense of the passage of time is something that comes naturally. Individuals intuitively understand differences between minutes, hours, and days and how long tasks will take. However, time blindness autism can alter perceptions of time, creating a challenge with organization and planning.

When individuals hear of the term, “time blindness,: many snicker and are skeptical of its reality.  Some suggest it’s simply a made-up name for people who are terrible at keeping track of what they need to do and when. But, it’s not a made up challenge. But when time flies so fast—or slow—that scheduling and time obligations are hard to meet, it’s a very real issue that can impact a person’s life.

A significant portion of individuals on the spectrum experience various levels of time blindness autism, where losing track of time and not understanding the nuances behind the passage of time is difficult to perceive.

For those with time blindness, time feels more fluid and abstract rather than concrete and quantitative. Without an innate sense of time, everyday tasks that require time estimation or timing can become extraordinarily challenging.

What Exactly is Time Blindness Autism and Why Time Flies so Fast or Slow

Time blindness is precisely what its name implies – a blindness to the passage of time. Also referred to as temporal agnosia, it is a neurological condition where one’s sense of time is impaired or absent altogether. With time blindness, an individual lacks that innate “inner clock” that most people possess to varying degrees.

For the majority of the population, passage of time is perceived as continuous – we see time as a line stretching from the past to the future, with the present moment moving steadily ahead. For those with time blindness, this continuity of time breaks down. The passage of time becomes more erratic and difficult to track.

Some describe struggling with time gaps, literally losing track of time where periods seem to go missing and time flies so fast or incredibly slow. Others experience temporal overload – snippets of time dragged out and overflowing with too much sensory information to process.

Still others have trouble distinguishing recent versus distant events, as their sense of chronology is mixed up. The nonlinear ways that those with time blindness experience time can be extremely disorienting.

Everyday Impacts to Time Blindness Autism

Without an innate sense of time, routines that many take for granted become extremely hard to manage. Activities like getting ready in the morning, commuting to work or school, knowing how long to cook a meal – these types of situations are hugely impacted by time blindness autism.

It can be enormously stressful and overwhelming for someone on the spectrum to need to strictly stick to a schedule when they have little conscious awareness of time passing.

Something as simple as getting out the door in the morning can end up taking an eternity – losing track of time makes judging the steps needed stressful and difficult to gauge. Individuals may have hyper focused autism as a part of their routine, like repeatedly brushing their hair over and over.

Meanwhile from an outside perspective, the passage of time is slipping away, and results in losing track of time – sometimes leading to meltdowns when pressured.

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Many people with ASD also tend to live very much “in the moment” as a form of hyper focused autism due to differences in how their brains process information and stimuli. They become immersed in present activities, giving them less capacity to track elapsed time or look ahead toward future plans.

While hyper focused autism has benefits of living in the present moment, not having a sense for the future can also lead to significant issues with planning, goal setting and organization.

Time blindness also makes perceiving speed and velocity difficult. For those navigating the world without an innate sense of timing, gauging how fast a car is going or how long crossing the road will take becomes guesswork.

Everyday activities most people conduct automatically require painfully manual calculation and concentration for someone contending with time blindness. It’s easy to see how simply running errands can become harrowing and exhausting.

Potential Causes of Why Time Flies So Fast…or Slow

Time blindness autism refers to challenges with the perception of time.Though time blindness in autism is still being researched, some studies suggest neurological differences likely play a key role. Brain imaging has revealed variances in areas linked to time perception among autistic with brain regions that regulate executive function, attention, movement and more – factors all tied to tracking time.

Additionally, atypical neurotransmitter levels affecting things like memory, arousal and awareness have been noted as potential influences.

Such neurological variances could help explain why time blindness appears markedly more common among those with ASD compared to the general population. In one study, over 80% of autistic participants struggled with time duration tasks compared to 17% of neurotypical controls.

Genetics around melatonin production and circadian rhythms also seem to contribute – helping explain co-occurring sleep disorders.

While more research is still needed, it’s clear neurological differences in how those with ASD take in and process sensory information plays a major role.

How the autistic brain is wired appears to have a significant impact on intuiting something as abstract and complex as the passage of time.

RELATED: Autism on the Brain: Unpacking the Meaning Behind Neurodiversity

Everyday Coping Strategies for Hyper Focused Autism

Though living with an inconsistent sense of time is undoubtedly challenging, a number of constructive strategies exist to help compensate:

Schedules and Calendars: Consistent access to daily and weekly schedules helps provide missing structure around the passage of time. Color-coding calendars to make visual connections also assists with easing time blindness.

Timers and Prompts: Set timers for tasks, especially open-ended activities that can lead to hyper focusing and losing track. Prompts at regular intervals also help orient someone back to monitoring time. Apps with custom alerts and reminders are available specifically around time management.

Routines: Establishing set routines trains in consistent pacing and transition times. Always doing things in the same sequence and allotting proper time chunks lessens uncertainty. Checklists support completing routinized tasks. 

Watches and Clocks: Simply having chronographic references available serves as an essential external gauge of time. Some wear digital watches allowing timers to be easily set. Others opt for fiddles like fidget spinners marked with minutes to support focus.

First/Then Modeling: Breaking down longer tasks and transitions into segmented “first ___, then ___” steps makes time increments more concrete. Offering periodic rewards after timed milestones are met provides motivation. 

It’s essential for those supporting individuals with ASD – parents, teachers, employers – to understand time blindness autism as an everyday reality. Accommodating differences in time perception enables autonomy.

Flexibility around managing time should be emphasized over strict adherence to schedules not adapted to someone’s needs. Progress towards goals should get measured by completion rather than speed. Providing assistive structure while being patient with pacing ultimately fosters success.

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Why Understanding Time Blindness Autism Matters

Time blindness is nothing to be snickered about. While everyone occupies their own unique place on the spectrum, challenges with properly perceiving time seem nearly universal in autism.

In a survey conducted among parents of neurodiverse children, over 86% reported issues of time blindness autism interfering with daily activities.

Difficulties with time perception manifest in countless ways, significantly impacting major areas of life.

Without comprehending lived experiences around time blindness, the autistic community gets subjected to unfair and ableist judgements. When late to work or socially withdrawn, they get labeled lazy rather than lacking needed supports.

In school, struggling with assignments requiring time estimation leads to assumptions about intelligence and competence. Everywhere autistic individuals go, they confront stigma for exhibiting symptoms of an invisible but very real condition.

Spreading awareness about the reality of living with time blindness fosters better empathy and accommodation. Structural ableism around strict scheduling expectations needs re-examining through a neurodiversity lens to foster inclusiveness.

By encouraging more flexibility around fluid perceptions of time, we make space for alternative modes of completing tasks and measured productivity. Progress gets redefined based on individualized needs instead of standardized metrics. 

Practical Solutions to Address Passage of Time Challenges

Though losing track of time presents inherent challenges, various practical solutions exist to help with time management skills for those on the spectrum. Implementing assistance around perception, planning, and pacing can help compensate when an innate sense of time is lacking.

Visual aids are hugely helpful for orienting those with time blindness towards better grasping the passage of time. Simple color-coded visual schedules breaking down tasks by time frames provide crucial structure.

 Digital timers and clocks set to prompt with alerts when transitioning between activities acts as useful guidance. Even tools as basic as an hourglass egg timer allows setting and visualizing time chunks in concrete ways.

Beyond external visual and auditory cues, various therapies target building internal systems to rely on when supports get withdrawn.

Cognitive and behavioral approaches aim to train in techniques like picturing timelines, categorizing events by recency, and quantifying task lengths. Through practice, the goal is to reinforce innate neural pathways connected to temporal processing.

For children, games leveraging repetition around time-based concepts supports laying developmental foundations to build upon later. Many play therapies incorporate timers, stopwatches, calendars, and schedules designed to casually immerse kids in thinking about time.

 Moving forward through school, individualized education plans (IEPs) officially outline accommodations needed by law – including additional time for assignments.

Reaching adulthood introduces new considerations, where regimented workplace environments often prove disabling. Thankfully, growing awareness means more companies actively promote neurodiversity hiring initiatives.

Modified schedules, flex work options, and reduced time-based performance metrics help talented autistic individuals excel in environments adapted to their needs. Autism advocacy organizations also provide vocational training and job coach services – helping advise around setting up appropriate workplace accommodations.

At home, family members make efforts towards adjusting household routines and expectations to support relatives managing time blindness. Parents avoid language inherently embedding time like “later” or “in a few minutes” – instead, using concrete phrasing like “after lunch.”

Siblings practice patience when an autistic brother or sister loses track of playtime. Extended families educate themselves on time perception differences to avoid judgment over missed social cues like interrupting or staying too long.

While clinical approaches to helping navigate time blindness do exist, availability remains limited. Few specialized clinics cater to autism, let alone niche concerns like supporting those with temporal agnosia.

However, the ideal solutions are often fairly simple and feasible to implement once those surrounding an autistic loved one become informed. Small adjustments by workplaces, schools, families and friends ultimately enable those with vastly different orientations towards time to participate and thrive.

Of course, the deepest insights emerge from listening directly to autistic self-advocates speaking on the issue. Conveying the actual lived reality of experiencing time in nonlinear ways that diverge from societal standards helps guide what practical assistance works best.

Only by embracing neurodiverse perspectives can solutions evolve to address longstanding barriers confronted by the autism community.

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Moving Forward With Understanding  Why Time Flies So Fast or Not at All

Hyper focused autism and losing track of times can cause hardships in life.While everyone’s experience with autism is unique, difficulties tracking the passage of time appear frequently enough to be considered a core challenge for many on the spectrum.

Learning to perceive time in normative ways that enable coordinating with societal systems marks a key developmental milestone. When neurology differences disrupt intuiting chronology, forging new pathways towards understanding benefits from compassion.

Structural ableism embedded in schedules and metrics of productiveness sanctioned as “normal” requires rethinking. Truly accommodating and empowering those who differ in processing time demands flexibility, creativity and openness to re-envisioning supports.

Just as with other differences related to gender identity or cultural backgrounds, embracing neurodivergence as an equally valid way of experiencing the world pushes us toward more expansive equity.

Progress already underway gives hope that time blindness autism will garner increasing validation and assistance from here forward. Our collective comprehension of neurology now extends far past outdated notions viewing conditions like autism as defective.

Instead, research reveals wondrous complexity reflective of our species’ diversity. Creating inclusive futures where all orientations toward time get embraced now lies within reach by simply choosing understanding over judgment.

For those with innate differences in experiencing time versus societal norms, reconciling such a mismatch takes work. But much of that burden gets lifted when met with understanding versus judgment.

With compassion and the right assistance, building skills to work through challenges with time perception becomes far less fraught. By changing attitudes and building responsive support systems, achieving goals and life stability absolutely becomes possible even with time blindness.

The passage of time remains steady as ever – but how we perceive and relate to that passage varies tremendously between neurotypes. Creating equity means meeting people where chronology happens for them. Only then can we build towards futures where all conceptions of time get validated.

RELATED: Am I Neurodivergent? Understanding Neurodiversity and Its Value is Key

Autism in Adults:  Living, Learning, and Overcoming Challenges for a Fulfilled Life

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Learn more about ways adults can live fulfilled lives and the challenges they face.

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Connor McClure

I'm a young adult navigating life with autism. By sharing my experiences and views, I hope to create a better awareness, understanding, and compassion for those on the spectrum. Let's connect!
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