In Marilyn Mitchell’s “Visual Representation of Time”, she explains how over the decades of learning we have developed the visual for time as being a line that is read from left to right. In our society, the concept of time being a line is integrated into our minds in early childhood; although we are taught to read time in a circle. She explains how the idea surrounds the ideals of past, present and future. The events that are put into timelines, which are represented as physical lines, can be shown as overlapping; the concept being that they were events occurring at the same time.
The idea of time being a line is so odd to me. To understand how one thinks of time visually in their heads is to understand that time is not perceived exactly the same way in anyone. For, personally, I think of time as just a series of visuals. They are not far away in memory or do not seem to be nearer the more recently they have happened. I can’t remember what I had for breakfast but I remember what I got for my third birthday. Of course, this may be because I am a visual person and since pictures exist it is easy to visualize previous events but the concept of time passing is not linear to me. To develop such an idea is a great feat for humankind.
