the importance of play
Posted by Daniela Elza on Jul 17 2011
I watched a couple of TED videos on the importance of play. The first one is by Steve Keil in which he speaks of how we need to start a revolution: a player’s uprising.
At TEDxBG in Sofia, Steve Keil fights the “serious meme” that has infected his home of Bulgaria—and calls for a return to play to revitalize the economy, education and society. A sparkling talk with a universal message for people everywhere who are reinventing their workplaces, schools, lives.
Here you can see A manifesto for play for Bulgaria and Beyond.
Then I saw Stuart Brown, a pioneer in research on play, who says humor, games, roughhousing, flirtation and fantasy are more than just fun. Plenty of play in childhood makes for happy, smart adults-and keeping it up can make us smarter at any age. Here you can watch his TED talk.
I am going to continue to make my way through the various talks that keep bringing up the importance of play. One thing that stayed with me is the notion that the opposite of play is not work. The opposite of play is depression. Lots to think about.
Of course, I am a proponent of play. Even though it was not directly addressed in my thesis it lingers in the background throughout. My small book of It is a big supporter of play. It loves to play. My whole philosophy around the poetic consciousness readily embraces play. So, of course, I am happy when people come out with the hard facts even though it is a no brainer how much we need it. Almost ironic we have to convince each other of its importance.
Now, time to play.