Has Tech Interrupted Play?

As I walked out of the shop with box in hand, I noticed two little ones sitting in the car adjacent to mine, curled over a phone “playing.” I was curious what they were doing, and also curious about the changes since I was their age - I would have either been in the shop with my parent, or sitting in the car reading a book.

Neither of which may be considered play.

As I re-read, Dr. Stuart Brown’s book Play : How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul, I find myself spending more and more time thinking about how play has shifted with the evolution of technology.

Dr. Brown hesitates to define play in his book, but instead he mentions specific properties of play:

• Apparent purposelessness - from an outsider observer, it doesn’t provide any value, specifically survival value. We don’t get food or money from it.
• Voluntary - it’s not something we do out of obligation, it’s a choice.
• Inherent attraction - it’s fun (at least for the person engaged) and makes the participant feel good
• Freedom from time - when we’re engaged, we lose track of the passage of time. It’s kairos time, not chronos time.
• Diminished consciousness of self - we stop worry about how we look to others
• Improvisational potential - we are open to chance and seeing how things unfold. We are also open to new ideas and perspectives.
• Continuation desire - the pleasure we derive means we don’t want to stop

Without knowing what those two little people were doing in the car, I can’t be sure if it was play or not.

I am curious about how much technology has interrupted or evolved our relationship to play. Despite the fact that our devices adhere to some of the 7 properties of play, I don’t think that much of what we do on them is actually play.

What do you think? If you think about your time spent on your device, would you consider it play?

Over the weekend, my daughter invited 8 friends over for an evening to celebrate her birthday. Most of them have smart phones, but we didn’t take them. My husband and I closed the kitchen doors and let them “play” in their own way.

What happens when you put nine 12-year-olds together for 4 hours? How will they spend their time?

They started with singing and dancing, and then we realized that they were playing hide and seek. As a child, I played variations of the classic game all the time, so I was pleased to hear them playing it as well. The laughter was infectious. Twice we had to ask them not to jump on the furniture, and once to remind them not to slam doors. We gave them some off-limit areas (under our feet), while they were playing hide and seek.

By the time the parents picked them up at 11:00 they were glowing with energy and excitement. I got several messages from parents thanking us for the “great time.”

Too often when I see older teens together, I see them grouped together, but all on their separate devices, or leaning over each other’s shoulders watching one another’s phones. Or, potentially taking a selfie. I wonder, are they having fun?

I am curious what you think about this idea. Do you think technology and the rise of smartphones has interrupted our relationship to play? If so, how? And what’s the result.

If I go back to Dr. Brown’s book and research, he talks about how play would have extinguished itself if it didn’t have a survival value. Across the entire animal kingdom are examples of play, and what they’ve found is that there is a direct link between play and survival.

In a world that prizes productivity and efficiency, where too many people find themselves scrolling (not playing), what will the long-term effects be on our brains and our ability to socialize?

What’s your favorite way to play that doesn’t involve tech?

More musings on play later this week….

Originally posted on Substack with comments.

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