Wait - has it really been five years? It feels like we blinked and somehow fast-forwarded past an entire half decade. One moment, we were disinfecting groceries and hosting Zoom happy hours; and the next, we were back to airport lines, packed schedules, and a world that barely paused for breath. Time has always been a slippery thing, but something about these last five years feels off.

How did we get here so fast? And why does the COVID-19 lockdown still feel like it was just yesterday?

March 2020 was when the world hit pause. Airports emptied, city streets grew silent, and entire countries retreated indoors. What started as "two weeks to flatten the curve" spiraled into months of uncertainty. Time felt stretched, endless - one long, monotonous loop of home workouts, doom-scrolling, and everyone suddenly becoming a chef, experimenting with recipes they’d never try otherwise.

Psychologists say that when life lacks novelty, our brains struggle to create distinct memories. With days blending into each other, time felt slow in the moment but left little trace in our minds. No wonder, looking back, it all feels like one vague, blurry chapter.

But then, just as suddenly, it was over.

Time compression effect

When vaccines arrived and the world reopened, everything moved at hyperspeed. Businesses scrambled to recover. People rushed back to work. Travel surged. Cities roared back to life, making up for lost time. Instead of easing back in, we catapulted forward. And in that chaos, the years flew by.

Neuroscientists have a name for this: the time compression effect. When we’re overwhelmed, our brains stop registering details, making entire periods of our lives feel like a blur. The post-pandemic rush created exactly that—an acceleration of everything, from personal goals to global events.

Think about it: in just five years, we’ve witnessed AI explode into our daily lives, climate disasters intensify, economies swing unpredictably, and political shifts redefine nations. The world didn’t just restart; it sped up. And in that rush, time vanished.

If there’s one thing that’s made time move even faster, it’s AI. Five years ago, AI was a futuristic concept, used in niche industries. Now, it’s everywhere - writing emails, automating jobs, generating images, composing music, and even having conversations.

AI removed the slow moments

AI has sped up the pace of life itself. Tasks that once took hours now take seconds. Creativity, once a slow and deliberate process, is now instantaneous. Work never really "ends" anymore; it just shifts between human and machine.

And here’s the paradox: while AI gives us more time by handling mundane tasks, it also makes time feel shorter by removing the slow moments—the thinking, the struggling, the waiting. In a way, it has compressed our sense of reality.

Half a decade ago we were stuck inside our homes, dreaming of freedom. Now we’re free, but at what cost if it all rushes by in a blur? Time won’t slow down for us, but we can choose to live it fully.

AI may accelerate life, but it can’t replace the human experience - the quiet coffee breaks, the deep conversations, the unplanned adventures. Maybe that’s the real lesson from all this is to stop waiting for life to happen and start really living it. Because if the past five years taught us anything, it’s that everything can change in an instant. And we owe it to ourselves to make every moment count.

Because if time keeps moving at this speed, 2030 will be here before we even realize we left 2025.

(The author is a veterinarian from Nepal with a keen interest in One Health, disease ecology, and sustainable livestock management. Views expressed are personal. He can be reached at ayush.adhikari2000@gmail.com or via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ayushadh/ )