Time and Coffee

The item I chose was coffee. Coffee contains caffeine, a substance that heightens the sense and causes one’s perception to (seemingly) go faster. The person under the influence feels as if the world is moving faster than it is. One may argue that the person is just seeing time incorrectly, however how can we be so sure? While one second may be faster for them than it is for us, I believe that time is something that needs to be perceived instead of being measured.

For example, there’s the adage “Time flies when you’re having fun.” It implies that when you are having fun, the time seems to pass faster. To everyone else, they may have felt that ten minutes have passed, but if the person who was having fun didn’t know any better they would simply say that five minutes have gone on. Someone may correct them by giving them the correct time, however the person will still believe that five minutes have gone by because that’s what they felt. Conversely, if you are not having fun, time seems to go slower for you.

A theoretical example of time needing to be perceived would be if someone were caught in a time “warp” where everything else actually does move slower than he does. One minute for them would be thirty seconds for everyone else. Although the time was moving faster for him, his perception of time would be no more incorrect than the perception of time of the other people. He would be in his own “time bubble,” where time moves at a certain speed for him but a different speed for everyone else.

In conclusion, one cannot measure time; one has to perceive it. Each person has his or her own perception of time which changes constantly.