Experiencing a slow passage of time was an indicator of social and temporal disorientation during the Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

Time dilation was experienced in most countries and across the several years of the Covid-19 crisis: the passage of time was deemed slower than before the pandemic, and the distance to the beginning of the pandemic seemed longer than it really was. An outstanding question is how these two aspects of time judgements relate to other temporal, social and affective disturbances. We developed and validated a 59-item questionnaire to explore these questions. 3306 participants completed the questionnaire in France in May and June 2021. Here, we analyse group differences and find that both slow passage of time and long distance judgements were associated with larger disturbances across all domains under study. These included temporal disruptions—the aptness to project oneself into the future, the sense of a rift between pre-pandemic and pandemic time, the ability to locate oneself in time, the capacity to recall the order of past events—, as well as an overall sense of social disorientation, and trauma-specific disturbances. In contrast, both fast passage of time and short distance judgements were associated with beneficial effects across all of the mentioned domains. Our results indicate that perceived passage of time and temporal distance judgements are key indicators of social and temporal disorientation.

Out of time, out of mind: Multifaceted time perceptions and mental wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Although research in other countries has found that loneliness or social isolation during the pandemic is related to a perceived slowness of time or longer perceived duration between events (e.g. Wessels et al, 2022;Velasco et al, 2022a), we find here that other stressors during the pandemic such as household conflict and financial hardship also bear associations with multifaceted time perceptions. Especially as recall period lengthens, individuals become more likely to experience conflicting time disorientations (e.g.…”

“…Especially as recall period lengthens, individuals become more likely to experience conflicting time disorientations (e.g. slowness as well as quickness), consistent with a sense of vertigo (Velasco et al, 2022a(Velasco et al, , 2022b. In France, perceived slowness in particular is linked to a psychological sense of traumatization (Velasco et al 2022a).…”

“…While researchers of time perceptions have long noted that public health emergencies and other social upheavals alter how we experience the passage and availability of time (Restubog et al, 2020;Roeser, 2012;Taylor, 2020;Zimbardo and Boyd, 2008), the COVID-19 pandemic represents a vital opportunity to revisit a fundamental, longstanding question in the literature: how common are different time perceptions, and how are these different time perceptions related to each other? In particular, while the perceptions of time moving slowly or quickly are commonly studied, it is less common to place these into the context of feeling rushed or that days blend together, which are other important components of temporal disorientation (Chaumon et al, 2022;Kosak et al, 2022;Velasco et al, 2022aVelasco et al, , 2022b). Here, we analyze these time perceptions not only in terms of their frequency, but also in terms of how they relate to each other and vary across individual backgrounds and experiences of pandemic-related stress.…”

“…Although it is well-established that perceptions of slowed time relate to depression and various forms of stress including social isolation (e.g. Kosak et al, 2022;Wessels et al, 2022;Velasco et al, 2022a), relationships to sociodemographic background and to specific forms of pandemic stress in a US context remain less clear. Also, this research has not unraveled how these disorientations relate to mental wellbeing net of each other.…”

The dual role of time perception in trauma-exposed individuals: A conceptual review.

“…For a detailed description of the existing studies in the field, see Table 1. Overestimation of time was linked to higher perceived isolation, low reports of experienced group belonging, and difficulty in feeling close to others or finding emotional support (Fernandez Velasco et al, 2022).…”