The 6 Perspectives of Time

Cognitive Media’s visual animation of Phillip Zimbardo’s talk on The Secret Powers of Time is a great way of visually translating the concepts into a more tangible and engaging approach similar to The Story… videos I wrote about not too long ago. The talk itself is thought-provoking, but the addition of the time-lapse drawings makes it much more fun to listen and watch. The drawings help add meaning and aid in the recall of information presented.

The six perspectives of time that Zimbardo discusses are: past positive (focus on happy memories), past negative (focus on regret and failure), present hedonistic (live in the moment and seek pleasure), present fatalistic (life is fated, no use in planning), future focused (work comes before play) and future transcendent (life begins after death.)

I can probably relate to most perspectives and have spent more time in one view over another at different stages throughout my life. Though I don’t quite agree with the present fatalistic view. It seems rather depressing to think that you have no control over your future. Presently (no pun intended), I’d say my view of life right now is majority in the present hedonistic perspective with a future focused view to provide a bit of balance and self restraint. I can’t exactly claim that I indulge in every pleasure without a care in the world, but I also don’t exactly have the discipline to plan everything ahead in my life.

Zimbardo brings up a funny point that I totally relate to at 8:06 in the video. That is our digital life has made us all impatient. Anything that takes a minute or more to download is considered too slow. Though the talk is American-centric, I think most of the developed society can relate to this point.

Technology is getting better and faster, but this has affected our perceptions of time in every part of our lives. We have grown more impatient over the years. Remember dial up? Remember when it used to take forever to boot up the computer? Almost every invention or trend these days has something to do with saving time and making ordinary tasks more efficient.

Think of the Slap Chop (cut and slice faster), the Magic Bullet (a blender that does everything), Twitter (instantly tell the world what you’re up to in under 140 characters), Facebook (get instant updates from all your friends in one place) or the iPhone (a phone, computer, gaming device, music player and camera all in one)—all devices or apps designed to do more in less time.

In a USA Today poll that Zimbardo points out, Americans were asked what they would do if they had an extra day in the week and fifty percent said they would work harder to achieve more rather than spend time with their family, friends or sleeping. Hmm, there seems to be something wrong with that picture. (That’s also why I’m not entirely future focused. I’d much prefer to have a 3-day weekend!)

There are more RSAnimate videos here. Daniel Pink’s talk on what motivates us is also an interesting one to listen and watch. Money may seem to be the ultimate motivation for people. However, in an experiment that Pink highlights, when the level of rewards are linked to performance, the results provide a surprising outcome.