Time is a liar. Honestly, if you asked me how many years ago was 2022, my brain would probably short-circuit for a second before landing on the actual number. We are sitting here in 2026, which means 2022 was 4 years ago.
Four years.
That feels wrong, doesn't it? It feels like it was either ten years ago or maybe just last Tuesday. This isn't just you being bad at math or getting older. There is actually a legitimate psychological phenomenon at play here called "time compression," and 2022 was the epicenter of it. We were coming out of the haze of the early 2020s, trying to remember how to be humans in public again, and the result was a year that felt both infinite and instantaneous.
Doing the Math: How Many Years Ago Was 2022 Exactly?
Since we are currently in January 2026, the gap is straightforward. You subtract 2022 from 2026 and you get 4. If you are looking for the precise breakdown, we are talking about roughly 1,461 days, including the leap year we hit in 2024.
Think about what has happened in that span. In 2022, the phrase "generative AI" wasn't even in the average person's vocabulary. ChatGPT didn't launch until the very end of that year (November 30, to be exact). Now, in 2026, AI is basically the air we breathe. Four years is a lifetime in the current technological era. It’s the difference between wondering if remote work would last and seeing the entire commercial real estate market permanently shift because of it.
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Why 2022 Feels Like a Different Century
Psychologists often talk about "anchoring events." These are the big, meaty moments in our lives that help us track time. When life is repetitive—like the blurred years of 2020 and 2021—our brains stop creating new anchors. 2022 was the year the world tried to restart.
We had the Winter Olympics in Beijing. We had the Will Smith "slap" at the Oscars. These feel like ancient history because our "internal clock" is calibrated by the sheer volume of news we consume. According to research published in Nature Human Behaviour, our perception of time is heavily influenced by "novelty." Because 2022 was packed with the return of travel, concerts, and massive geopolitical shifts like the start of the war in Ukraine, our brains packed those memories tight.
When you ask how many years ago was 2022, your brain tries to sort through all those "new" files. It takes longer to process, making the year feel much further away than just 48 months.
The Pop Culture Time Capsule
If you want to feel the weight of those four years, look at what we were watching and listening to. Top Gun: Maverick was the king of the box office. Everyone was obsessed with Stranger Things Season 4 and that Kate Bush song. Remember "Running Up That Hill" being everywhere? That was four years ago.
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- In sports, Argentina won the World Cup in Qatar. Messi finally got his trophy.
- The Queen of England, Elizabeth II, passed away in September of that year.
- Elon Musk actually bought Twitter (now X) in October 2022.
The world looked fundamentally different. We were still arguing about mask mandates in some places, while other parts of the world were acting like 2019 had never ended. It was a messy, transitional, chaotic year.
How to Recalibrate Your Sense of Time
If the realization that 2022 was 4 years ago gives you a bit of existential dread, you aren't alone. The "Blur Years" (2020-2023) have messed with everyone's chronological tracking.
One way to fix this is to stop looking at years as single blocks of time. Instead, look at the "Micro-Eras" you've lived through since then. You've likely had two or three different versions of yourself since 2022. Maybe you changed jobs. Maybe you moved. Maybe you finally gave up on that hobby you started during the lockdowns.
Experts like Dr. Marc Wittmann, a psychologist who focuses on time perception, suggest that "temporal stretching" happens when we don't have enough routine. Ironically, the chaos of 2022 made it feel longer. To snap back into the present, focus on the milestones of 2024 and 2025.
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Looking Ahead From the 2026 Perspective
When we look back from where we are now, 2022 was the final "bridge" year. It was the last year that felt like the "old world" before the total integration of high-level AI and the post-pandemic economic shifts really took hold.
If you're planning a project or looking at a contract that started back then, remember to account for the inflation spikes that hit right in the middle of this four-year gap. A dollar in 2022 bought significantly more than a dollar does today in 2026. That is the practical, annoying reality of how much time has passed.
To stay grounded in the present, take a look at your digital footprint from four years ago. Go to your photo app and search for "January 2022." You'll see a version of yourself that probably looks younger, maybe a bit more tired, and definitely unaware of the four years of madness that were about to follow.
Actionable Steps for Time Management in 2026:
Start a "Timeline Audit" to regain your sense of control. Open your calendar or photo stream and pick one major event from each year—2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025. Write down one thing you learned in each of those years. This forces your brain to create the "anchors" it missed during the transition out of the pandemic era. It turns a vague "four years ago" into a structured history of personal growth. Stop letting the years bleed together; name them, claim the progress you made, and use that momentum to handle whatever the rest of 2026 has in store.