Time passing faster now as compared to 50 years (or 1000yrs) back ?
This is really not physics at all, but I think it can most readily be explained by the fact that people generally experience time as moving faster as they get older. 

This is because as we age, things that happened a year ago don't seem so distance, because we can also remember things that happened 10 years ago. If you were only 5 years old, something that happened a year ago happened a 5th of your life ago - a huge amount of time compared with your current lifespan.

As far as I know, there is no law that says time passes any slower or faster depending on the age of the (universe) earth.

Edit: I have just seen this, a much better answer to the question than mine. Perception of time as a function of age (thanks jinawee)