The ‘Very Senior Prom’ and Mourning the Loss of Play

The deeper we get into the digital age, the more people seem to lose their sense of play. As a new book points out, play is essential to human happiness and flourishing, and the digital age—with its inevitable politicization of everything—explains much of why it seems to be missing today. The loss of play is also why our journalism is so bad. There once was a time when journalists, believe it or not, were recruited from the athlete class. They were not the chip-on-their-shoulders loners, looking to settle high school grudges. And this was one of the reasons they were able to find so many great stories. They had a sense of adventure and toughness, and they knew where to look.

In her book The Playful Way: Creativity, Connection, and Joy Through Everyday Moments of Play, Piera Gelardi argues for the spiritual, psychological, and physical benefits of play. “Research reveals that playful adults excel at problem-solving and stress management and consistently report higher life satisfaction,” Gelardi writes. “They’re keen observers who spot fresh perspectives where others see only obstacles. They develop healthier coping mechanisms and bounce back faster from setbacks, too. As Dr. Stuart Brown from the National Institute for Play puts it, ‘The opposite of play is not work. It’s depression.’”

Gelardi further notes that:

playfulness is an underestimated trait that’s more Swiss Army knife than cheap toy—it’s an incredibly handy tool for handling life’s complexities. It’s got corkscrews for opening up possibilities, scissors for cutting through perfectionism, a magnifying glass for finding solutions, and tweezers for extracting joy from the teensy-tiniest of spaces. Beyond the mental, playfulness also benefits our bodies.