Stuart Brown: Why play is vital – no matter your age

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHwXlcHcTHc
Who is he? http://nifplay.org/about_us.html
In his words: “The opposite of play is not work, it is depression.”

In my words:
All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. Studies show that if such a play deficit occurs early enough, Jack may snap and kill people later in life. So there’s no wonder that the conference Stuart Brown speaks at here is called “Serious Play.”

Thankfully, Brown doesn’t spend too much time wallowing in the play-or-kill dynamic his background suggests. He focuses, instead, on the everyday battle between play and depression. He suggests play allows us to achieve balance and happiness, and who doesn’t want to balanced and happy?

He does this with a combination of persuasive rhetoric and hard research. For example, he cites a rat study (no body of research is complete without one) showing rats who play are better able to adapt to a changing environment and not die in the process. He wants us to be the happy, living rat. He even suggests how the listener can change his or her life through examination of their play history (see key quotes).

This talk’s greatest strength is in its immediate applicability: “If you’re having a bad day, try this, jump up and down, wiggle around. You’re going to feel better.” Truly incorporating play into one’s life is something we can do on the individual level. So many of these talks are about changing the world, which is a pretty big place. Starting small is a good way to start.

Though Brown’s research is precise and compelling, his delivery is not. He lacks clarity as he gets further into the weeds of the his theories about play. He doesn’t explain the real-life application of the rat tale, and his speculation about Al Gore is a pretty big stretch. He also doesn’t really address the questions he faces at the end of his talk.

Key Quotes:
“That fixed behavior which is rigid and stereotyped and ends up with a meal, changes.”

“It’s that state that allows these two creatures to explore the possible. They are beginning to explore something that would not be possible without the play signals.”

“The unit of intelligibility for most of our brain is the story.”

“What I would encourage on an individual level to do is to explore backwards as far as you can go to the most clear joyful playful image, whether it’s a toy or a birthday or a vacation and build on the joy of that into how that connects to your life now.”

Noodle Scratchers:
How have you played at work or school? How would you answer the wheelchair man’s question about putting kids in pens to play all day?