Time compression the phenomenon where time goes by quickly when we're immersed in something that we're doing.
This usually happens to people who play video games or movie bingers.

Time Compression

Virtual Reality gamers or users experience amplified time compression due to the lack of bodily awareness.
Studies have been done and proved that virtual reality indeed warps one's perception of time due to being totally immersed in VR and that the environment VR gives is one that prevents a person's awareness.

Time Compression and Virtual Reality

<ul>
<li>VR users unintentionally spend an excessive amount of time in games because VR headsets are becoming more comfortable for long-session usages.</li>
<li>It entails a risk of addiction that is associated with depression and insomnia, thus reducing their ability to tend to their mood and health.</li>
<li>Clocks must always be easily accessible and appear automatically at regular intervals.</li>
</ul>

Research Involving Time Compression and Virtual Reality

There are studies that involve the use of VR for patients undergoing therapy who claim to experience time compression effects.
Another study suggests that using VR during sessions as such is a surprisingly effective painkiller due to the power of distraction.
As technology evolves, we hope to see more advancement in this area.

Virtual Reality for Medicine

<div dir="ltr">
 <h2 data-type="text" dir="ltr">Ever lose track of time while doing something? It gets worse with a VR headset on. </h2>
</div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr">
 
 </div></div>19 May, 2021</div><img alt="Virtual reality warps your sense of time" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNjQxMDYyOC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY3NzQ2NTIxNX0.PjCrqFWxfjBKeQ2beF6R4dz-el6D2EwZyM9O8Ro6uXE/img.jpg?width=1245&amp;quality=85&amp;coordinates=0%2C235%2C0%2C335&amp;height=700" width="703" height="395"><UL><LI>Gamers often report losing track of time while playing, but virtual reality headsets amplify this effect.</LI><LI>Test subjects using headsets were off by an average 28.5 percent more than those using a typical screen.</LI><LI>A potential application of this finding is using it to help people endure difficult medical procedures, such as chemotherapy.</LI></UL>Whenever we're immersed in something, time goes by quickly. This is a particularly common occurrence for people who play video games. Glancing up at the clock, gamers are surprised by how many hours have vanished. This phenomenon has a name: time compression. And a new <a href="https://brill.com/view/journals/time/aop/article-10.1163-22134468-bja10034/article-10.1163-22134468-bja10034.xml" dir="ltr">study</a> on it shows that the effect is greatly amplified for people using virtual reality.<h2>Let's do the time warp again</h2><img src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%201245%20700'%3E%3C/svg%3E" width="623" height="350">A screen shot of the maze game used in the study. Notice the reminder to stop playing when time is up. Citation: Timing &amp; Time Perception 2021; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1163/22134468-bja10034" rel="noopener noreferrer" dir="ltr">10.1163/22134468-bja10034</a>The participants, all college students getting credit for participation, were asked to play a game either using a typical computer screen or by using an Oculus Rift VR headset. The game was a simple maze activity. Players tried to tilt a maze (such as the one seen above) to move a ball to the gold block at the end. Guiding the ball into a hole would cause the level to reset. They were asked to estimate when five minutes had passed and to stop playing at that time. Observers in the next room recorded how long it actually <a href="https://news.ucsc.edu/2021/05/virtual-reality-time-compression.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" dir="ltr">took</a>.After playing on their first device, players were asked to switch to the other where they repeated the experiment.The study initially involved 41 participants, though two of them provided estimates that were so incredibly bonkers that they had to be excluded. (Perhaps these two wandered into a mental wormhole?) Those playing the game with the headset estimated that five minutes (300 seconds) had elapsed after an average of 327.4 seconds; those playing on a monitor estimated that five minutes elapsed after 254.8 seconds, a difference of 72.6 seconds.Interestingly, this time compression only occurred when participants played using the VR headset first. This may have been because those who used the monitor first were better able to judge the length of time having already played it on a regular screen.<h2>Let's do the time warp again</h2><div class="embed-placeholder" data-type="youtube" data-id="zooZ5zcjA_c"></div>Why does time compression occur? One possibility is that being totally immersed within a VR environment prevents a person from observing their own body. Bodily awareness appears to be linked to accurate time perception, and people in a VR environment are deprived of this awareness. Thus, their perception of time becomes warped.The researchers' findings have important implications, especially for gamers as VR becomes more popular: "Time compression might cause VR users to unintentionally spend excessive amounts of time in games, especially as [head-mounted displays] become more comfortable to wear for long sessions. Even non-immersive games entail some risk of addiction, which has been associated with depression and insomnia (<a href="https://brill.com/view/journals/time/aop/article-10.1163-22134468-bja10034/article-10.1163-22134468-bja10034.xml#R000012" rel="noopener noreferrer" dir="ltr">Kuss &amp; Griffiths, 2012</a>). VR games may pose a greater risk of interfering with their players' sleep schedules, mood, and health by reducing their ability to notice the passage of time. Developers should take care not to create virtual 'casinos'; a clock should always be easily accessible, and perhaps even appear automatically at regular intervals"On a more positive note, the study reinforces the findings of a previous <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00520-010-0852-7" rel="noopener noreferrer" dir="ltr">one</a> showing that patients undergoing chemotherapy sessions while using VR headsets also reported time compression effects. Other research shows that VR is a surprisingly effective <a href="https://academic.oup.com/abm/article/41/2/183/4569537?login=true" rel="noopener noreferrer" dir="ltr">painkiller</a> through the power of distraction. In the future, VR won't just be for video gamers. It could play an important role in medicine and patient care.<UL><LI>Recent studies asked participants to rate the attractiveness of themselves and other participants, who were strangers. </LI><LI>The studies kept yielding the same finding: unattractive people overestimate their attractiveness, while attractive people underrate their looks. </LI><LI>Why this happens is unclear, but it doesn't seem to be due to a general inability to judge attractiveness.</LI></UL><div dir="ltr">
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Ever lose track of time while doing something? It gets worse with a VR headset on. ​

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Time Management

Ever lose track of time while doing something? It gets worse with a VR headset on.

<ul><li>Gamers often report losing track of time while playing, but virtual reality headsets amplify this effect. </li><li>Test subjects using headsets were off by an average 28.5 percent more than those using a typical screen. </li><li>A potential application of this finding is using it to help people endure difficult medical procedures, such as chemotherapy. </li> </ul>

Whenever we're immersed in something, time goes by quickly. This is a particularly common occurrence for people who play video games. Glancing up at the clock, gamers are surprised by how many hours have vanished.

This phenomenon has a name: time compression. And a new <a dir="ltr" href="https://brill.com/view/journals/time/aop/article-10.1163-22134468-bja10034/article-10.1163-22134468-bja10034.xml">study </a>on it shows that the effect is greatly amplified for people using virtual reality.

A screen shot of the maze game used in the study. Notice the reminder to stop playing when time is up.

Citation: Timing &amp; Time Perception 2021; <a dir="ltr" href="https://doi.org/10.1163/22134468-bja10034" rel="noopener noreferrer">10.1163/22134468-bja10034 </a>

The participants, all college students getting credit for participation, were asked to play a game either using a typical computer screen or by using an Oculus Rift VR headset. The game was a simple maze activity. Players tried to tilt a maze (such as the one seen above) to move a ball to the gold block at the end. Guiding the ball into a hole would cause the level to reset. They were asked to estimate when five minutes had passed and to stop playing at that time. Observers in the next room recorded how long it actually <a dir="ltr" href="https://news.ucsc.edu/2021/05/virtual-reality-time-compression.html" rel="noopener noreferrer">took </a>.

After playing on their first device, players were asked to switch to the other where they repeated the experiment.

The study initially involved 41 participants, though two of them provided estimates that were so incredibly bonkers that they had to be excluded. (Perhaps these two wandered into a mental wormhole?) Those playing the game with the headset estimated that five minutes (300 seconds) had elapsed after an average of 327.4 seconds; those playing on a monitor estimated that five minutes elapsed after 254.8 seconds, a difference of 72.6 seconds.

Interestingly, this time compression only occurred when participants played using the VR headset first. This may have been because those who used the monitor first were better able to judge the length of time having already played it on a regular screen.

Why does time compression occur? One possibility is that being totally immersed within a VR environment prevents a person from observing their own body. Bodily awareness appears to be linked to accurate time perception, and people in a VR environment are deprived of this awareness. Thus, their perception of time becomes warped.

The researchers' findings have important implications, especially for gamers as VR becomes more popular:

"Time compression might cause VR users to unintentionally spend excessive amounts of time in games, especially as [head-mounted displays] become more comfortable to wear for long sessions. Even non-immersive games entail some risk of addiction, which has been associated with depression and insomnia (<a dir="ltr" href="https://brill.com/view/journals/time/aop/article-10.1163-22134468-bja10034/article-10.1163-22134468-bja10034.xml#R000012" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kuss &amp; Griffiths, 2012 </a>). VR games may pose a greater risk of interfering with their players' sleep schedules, mood, and health by reducing their ability to notice the passage of time. Developers should take care not to create virtual 'casinos'; a clock should always be easily accessible, and perhaps even appear automatically at regular intervals"

On a more positive note, the study reinforces the findings of a previous <a dir="ltr" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00520-010-0852-7" rel="noopener noreferrer">one </a>showing that patients undergoing chemotherapy sessions while using VR headsets also reported time compression effects. Other research shows that VR is a surprisingly effective <a dir="ltr" href="https://academic.oup.com/abm/article/41/2/183/4569537?login=true" rel="noopener noreferrer">painkiller </a>through the power of distraction.

In the future, VR won't just be for video gamers. It could play an important role in medicine and patient care.

<ul><li>Recent studies asked participants to rate the attractiveness of themselves and other participants, who were strangers. </li><li>The studies kept yielding the same finding: unattractive people overestimate their attractiveness, while attractive people underrate their looks. </li><li>Why this happens is unclear, but it doesn't seem to be due to a general inability to judge attractiveness. </li> </ul>

Virtual reality warps your sense of time

Time Compression

Time Compression and Virtual Reality

Research Involving Time Compression and Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality for Medicine

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