Micro-Impacts of Play

Micro-Impacts of Play

              A common theory today for the existence and importance of childhood play in human is that play is necessary to full and healthy development, a theory exemplified by Robin Marantz Henig in her essay “Taking Play Seriously.” How we play as children shapes how we behave in our adult lives. In her short posting “Playing Alone,” Hsymonds reflects on her own experiences of play, exploring how the manner in which she played parallels the way she sees herself acting now. At the intersection of these two pieces lies the question of how the ways in which we play, not just the act of playing, affects actions in non-play spaces.

Both Henig and Hsymonds seem to agree that childhood play has a vast impact on how a human acts in maturity. Hsymonds draws a connection between growing up as an only child, playing mostly in solitude and feeling less inclined in non-play situations to reach out for interpersonal collaborations. In describing how growing playing without other children affected her actions in non-play situations, she brings up dualities: creative, but not as readily applied to  partnership with others; fast-thinking, but quiet in groups. What Hsymonds identifies as differences from peers who grew up playing in other ways is the basis for an argument of the importance of micro-impacts of play. The manner in which we play, what we choose or are able to do in play-spaces, has direct and indirect consequences on how we act and interact in non-play spaces. What we do and who we do it with as children testing out the world influences what we choose to or are able and comfortable to do in maturity.

Ability and comfort dictate our actions and reception in social spaces, which raises the question of whether there is a way of playing that is apt to create an adult human that is perfectly suited for the world as it is, or a way of playing that is most effective in creating a well-developed adult. Many of the studies cited in “Taking Play Seriously” use non-human animals as the basis for scientific proof that play affects whether or not they develop into healthy, normal behaving  But these animals often only have one way of expressing play, both in how they play and how they express that they are ready to play. Humans are more nuanced and varied in how they play, and how they act in maturity. Characteristics like introversion or shyness are neither abnormal nor unhealthy in humans; the consequences of play and types of play on mature humans could be harder to study in humans on a more delicate scale because there is less of a standard for what a “perfectly” developed and behaving human is or even could be, especially given that the world is constantly changing. The standard for perfection or being most equipped is tied directly to whomever has managed to glean the most power and authority; it’s not as simple as survival of the fittest in today’s human society.

 Hysmonds presents a case that supports the idea that childhood play does reflect how we will act as further matured individuals, and that the individual experiences of our youth in play situations result in specialized qualities and strengths that lead to a more diverse and interesting community of people.  If she had played in other ways or in a different social setting, the way in which she interacted and interacts, but also thinks and expresses herself, could have been very different. The reason she offersfor playing alone is not just that she necessarily or inherently liked playing alone, but growing up as an only child meant that that was the reality she was given; that reality led to the advancement of her creativity and independence but detracted from her desire to be loud or work in groups.  In human simulation games like the PC game The Sims, playing with certain toys as a toddler, i.e. a toy piano, allows the character to have advanced skills in when they grow into older stages, such as going into childhood with more music skills. Henig doesn’t deeply address the micro-impacts of play. But do children who grew up around mostly rough-and-tumble play develop into adults who are drawn towards more physical or aggressive social patterns and careers? Do children who spend most of their time playing “pretend” or being artistic grow up to be more artistic and creative adults? Or is all play created equal, all types of play having one general consequence of helping in the development of healthy, functioning, adaptive adults?

In “Playing Alone,” Hsymonds leans in deeper to the impacts of play than Henig chooses to, and presents the idea that styles in which we play as children directly impact the way we act in non-play situations, both as children and as adults.  There’s an important distinction there, I believe, that play is not intrinsic to childhood (and that not all of childhood is play), but that there are play and non-play situations in any stage of life. Play, existing often outside the confines of the “real-world” is a space for trial and error, to experiment without long-lasting or detrimental consequences. The trials and experimentations we experience are what draw the boundaries of our comfort-zones, what influence our instinctive actions. In play-spaces we were able to test them out; we know what to expect when we apply to the “real-world.”

 

 

Works Cited

Robin Henig, Taking Play Seriously, New York Times (Feb. 17, 2008).

Hsymonds. “Playing Alone”. Online posting. 21 Sept 2015. Changing Our Story 2015. Serendip Studios. < /oneworld/changing-our-story-2015/playing-alone>