Timeshift during COVID: How do we combat the "Blursday" phenomenon?
The experience of isolation for long periods of time can have various emotional effects, including but not limited to listlessness, indecision, boredom, frustration, anxiety, and sadness. A more subtle, and perhaps more abstract effect, is the feeling of “Blursday”. During a typical Blursday, we feel aimless, unmotivated, and time feels very strange. Some hours feel very long, one minute stretching to infinity, and then suddenly it’s 8pm and we’ve done nothing we planned to do.
There is a branch of psychology called “Time Perception”. There are many theories of time perception, hailing from philosophy, neuroscience, ecology, and psychology. Something that has become interesting to me during the COVID pandemic is the idea of “temporal illusions”. According to Wikipedia, these are some temporal illusions we might experience in our lifetimes:
Telescoping effect: People tend to recall recent events as occurring further back in time than they actually did (backward telescoping) and distant events as occurring more recently than they actually did (forward telescoping).[52]
Vierordt's law: Shorter intervals tend to be overestimated while longer intervals tend to be underestimated
Time intervals associated with more changes may be perceived as longer than intervals with fewer changes
Perceived temporal length of a given task may shorten with greater motivation
Perceived temporal length of a given task may stretch when broken up or interrupted
Auditory stimuli may appear to last longer than visual stimuli[53][54][55][56]
Time durations may appear longer with greater stimulus intensity (e.g., auditory loudness or pitch)
Simultaneity judgments can be manipulated by repeated exposure to non-simultaneous stimuli
So, what is coming into play for us during isolation? Some of us may experience depression. When we are depressed, time feels like it is moving at a snail’s pace. According to one study, “ depression may cause a slowing down of the individual's internal clock -- possibly caused by a general slowing down of motor behavior”. In the same vein, when we are worried, anxious, or anticipating something, we also feel time ticking very slowly. Think about that night before Christmas feeling, or the day of a first date- it’s a similar feeling. Finally, the lack of routine normally outlined by work life and errands has wreaked havoc on our sense of regularity.
Here are some strategies for redeveloping a sense of time:
mindfulness meditation- can help with focusing on the present and mitigates anxious and depressed feelings.
developing a routine- self-defined routine apart from work can help frame our day and increase sense of accomplishment. Some things to include may be as simple as taking a shower, going outside, cooking, or even drinking a glass of water. You may also want to use this time to devote an hour or two to an art practice you’ve been putting off, or development of a new income stream.
going outside- as obvious as it may sound, going outside can reset your inner clock.
limit screen time after 10 pm- not allowing your body and brain to “feel time” by continuing to take in digital information and screen light disrupts your sleep schedule, which can aggravate depression and anxiety symptoms. Instead, pick up a book, write, or relax in other ways.
Check out these articles for more information!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_perception
https://www.heretohelp.bc.ca/infosheet/covid-19-and-anxiety
https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/out-the-darkness/201107/why-does-time-seem-pass-different-speeds
https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/depression-time-perception_n_6879462