Time feels broken. Seriously. Ask anyone about the last few years and they’ll tell you that 2018 feels like a lifetime ago, while 2023 feels like last week. But if you’re looking at the hard calendar data to figure out how many years ago was 2018 to 2025, the answer is a crisp seven years. Seven. That’s it.
Seven years is enough time for a child to go from birth to second grade. It’s enough time for two full Olympic cycles (well, almost, thanks to the 2020 delay). In the world of tech, it’s the difference between the iPhone Xs and the cutting-edge AI-integrated handsets of today.
But why does that seven-year gap feel so massive?
Calculating the gap: 2018 to 2025
Mathematically, it’s a simple subtraction problem. $2025 - 2018 = 7$. However, the context of those years matters more than the integers. When we talk about how many years ago was 2018 to 2025, we are looking at two completely different worlds.
In 2018, the "Fortnite" craze was peaking. "Black Panther" was the biggest movie on the planet. We weren't constantly thinking about mRNA or social distancing. Fast forward to 2025, and the global landscape has been fundamentally reshaped by a pandemic, the explosion of generative AI, and significant shifts in how we work.
The math doesn't change, but our perception does. Psychologists often refer to this as "telescoping." It's a memory bias where we perceive recent events as being more remote than they actually are, or vice versa. Because the period between 2020 and 2022 was so dense with high-stress, repetitive events, our brains struggle to categorize the passage of time accurately.
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The 2,556-day journey
If you want to get granular, seven years isn't just a number. It's approximately 365.25 days multiplied by seven (accounting for leap years in 2020 and 2024). That gives us roughly 2,556 days.
Think about what happens in 2,500 days.
Most cars will have put on 80,000 miles.
A university student will have started their freshman year, graduated, and might already be three years into a professional career.
The "seven-year itch" isn't just a trope in marriages; it's a recognized psychological threshold where people often feel a need for significant life changes.
Why 2018 feels like a different century
Back in 2018, the world was obsessed with the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. People were doing the "In My Feelings" challenge on Instagram. TikTok was barely a year old in the global market and hadn't yet become the dominant cultural force it is today.
When we ask how many years ago was 2018 to 2025, we’re often asking because we can’t believe how much has changed. In 2018, remote work was a "perk" for a tiny fraction of the tech elite. By 2025, it’s a standard negotiation point for almost every white-collar job.
- Political Shifts: We’ve seen multiple election cycles that have fundamentally altered international relations.
- Economic Reality: The price of a loaf of bread or a gallon of gas in 2018 looks like a fantasy compared to 2025 prices.
- Cultural Velocity: Trends move faster now. A "meme" in 2018 could last a month. In 2025, a trend is born, peaks, and dies within 72 hours.
The role of leap years
Don't forget the extra days. Between 2018 and 2025, we lived through two leap years: 2020 and 2024. This adds two extra days to the tally. While two days might seem insignificant in a seven-year span, for anyone tracking interest rates, pregnancy terms, or legal deadlines, those 48 hours are vital.
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If you are calculating an exact anniversary—say, a wedding or a business launch—the day of the week will have shifted. Because there are 365 days in a year (not divisible by 7), your anniversary moves forward one day each year, and two days during leap years.
The "COVID Warp" in our memory
Researchers at universities like UC Irvine have studied how the pandemic affected our "internal clock." For many, the years 2020, 2021, and 2022 blurred into a single, long year. This is why, when you calculate that 2018 was seven years ago from 2025, your gut reaction might be, "No, that's impossible, it has to be at least a decade."
On the flip side, some people feel the opposite. Because they were "stuck" for a few years, 2018 feels like it happened just yesterday. It's a fascinating bit of human biology. Our brains mark time through "anchors"—unique, memorable events. When every day looks the same (sitting at the same desk, in the same house), the brain stops creating new anchors, making the time seem to vanish.
Real-world implications of the 7-year gap
Understanding that 2018 was seven years prior to 2025 is crucial for several professional fields:
Real Estate: Property values in many urban centers have seen massive fluctuations in this seven-year window. A house bought in 2018 is likely worth significantly more (or in some specific markets, less) due to the migration patterns seen in the early 2020s.
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Automotive: A 2018 model car is now reaching the age where major maintenance—timing belts, suspension overhauls, and battery replacements—becomes necessary. It’s no longer a "newish" car; it’s firmly in its middle-age phase.
Health: Seven years is long enough for your body's cells to undergo significant turnover. While the "every cell replaces itself every seven years" thing is a bit of an urban legend (some cells last a lifetime, others only days), the general sentiment of biological change holds true. You are, quite literally, not the same person you were in 2018.
How to use this time data
If you're planning a "seven-year review" or just trying to get your bearings, start by looking at your 2018 photos. It's a trip. Look at the fashion, the hair, the apps on your home screen.
The distance between 2018 and 2025 represents a massive era of transition. We moved from the "Post-Recession" era into the "AI Revolution" era. We changed how we communicate, how we shop, and how we value our time.
Actionable steps for reflecting on the 2018-2025 period
- Check your digital footprint. Go to Google Photos or iCloud and search for "January 2018." Notice the people who were in your life then versus now. It’s a fast way to realize how much growth has happened.
- Audit your finances. Compare a bank statement from 2018 to today. If you haven't adjusted your savings goals or investment strategies in those seven years, you're likely falling behind inflation.
- Update your resume. If you haven't refreshed your professional bio since 2018, it's probably written in a "dead language." The skills that were impressive seven years ago are now baseline expectations.
- Acknowledge the fatigue. If you feel tired, remember that these haven't been "normal" years. Processing seven years of global upheaval is taxing. Give yourself credit for navigating the stretch from 2018 to 2025.
Time moves at a constant speed of 60 minutes per hour, but life doesn't. Seven years is a substantial chunk of a human life—roughly 10% of the average lifespan. Whether 2018 feels like yesterday or a century ago, the calendar doesn't lie. It’s been a long, strange trip to get to 2025.
Next Steps:
- Calculate your own personal milestones by subtracting seven from your current age to see where you stood in 2018.
- Review your long-term goals set in the late 2010s to see which ones survived the transition into the mid-2020s.
- Clear out digital clutter from 2018 that is likely taking up paid cloud storage space.