Play is More than Fun, Stuart Brown

Stuart Brown gives some interesting insights into the value of play. I think his last line (before the Q&A) is the most important:

“I would encourage you all to engage not in the work-play differential—where you set aside time to play—but where your life becomes infused minute by minute, hour by hour, with body, object, social, fantasy, transformational kinds of play.”

Here are a few other takeaways I had:

• There are different types of play: Physical play. Object play. Rough and tumble play. Spectator / ritual play. Imaginative play.
• Play is born by curiosity and exploration.
• Nothing lights up the brain like play.
• The opposite of play is not work, it’s depression.
• Neoteny — the retention of immature qualities into adulthood. Humans are the most netenous, the most youthful, the most flexible, the most plastic of all creatures. And therefore, the most playful. And this gives us a leg up on adaptability.