Why do we feel like the holidays go by so quickly?

The psychological phenomenon of the "holiday paradox" is when the expectation and pressure of a perfect vacation makes many people feel like time is passing more quickly.

Summer vacations, National Day, and Tet holidays often pass by in the blink of an eye. This makes many people feel regretful and more tired when they have to return to school or work. According to experts, people's perception of time makes holidays seem shorter than working days. This phenomenon is called the "holiday paradox".

This term was coined by Professor Claudia Hammond, a lecturer in Psychology at the University of Sussex, UK, to describe the feeling of dissonance between two equal periods of time. Before and during a holiday, people use a prospective vantage to evaluate each day as it passes. After the holiday, they use a retrospective vantage. These two perspectives differ greatly over time.

According to a 2016 study published in Scientific American, anticipation tends to happen very quickly, especially with happy memories that are different from everyday life. Joshua Klapow, an associate professor of public health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, says many people have a habit of “cramming” too many activities during the holidays. They “pack” social activities that would take weeks or months into just a few days. These experiences make the hours fly by.

A person is vacationing at the beach. Photo: Freepik — A person is vacationing at the beach. Photo: *Freepik*

Research published in the journal Cognitive Science in 2012 called this perspective a “mental time machine,” which influences how people perceive the speed of time.

The second reason why the holidays pass quickly is psychological pressure. According to Associate Professor Klapow, retailers deliberately promote and communicate about this topic in the months leading up to Tet, building up customer expectations to stimulate demand. In the US, this is especially common before Christmas. Many brands count down several months, creating pressure that makes people feel like the holidays are passing quickly.

The expectations surrounding the holidays also make time feel short.

"We tend to expect too much. We want to have fun, we want things to go smoothly, we want things to be different from our daily lives. When we put that expectation on a few specific days, they go by very quickly," said Associate Professor Klapow, adding that if you rush to experience a great vacation, everything will happen at a dizzying speed.

Thuc Linh (According to Bustle )

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