Why Do We Play?
In our second week exploring games, my students and the Just Write virtual writing group drew inspiration from the TED Radio Hour program Press Play. As we learned last week in What Are Games?, games provide a wonderful writing invitation as every human has life experience with games from our childhood games to gym class to poker nights.
Press Play challenged us to consider the importance of play to our humanity as TED speakers describe how all forms of amusement — from tossing a ball to video games — can make us smarter, saner and more collaborative.
We particularly focused on four TED speakers:
- Dr. Stuart Brown‘s contention that play is a necessary part of being human.
- Primatologist Isabel Behncke Izquierdo‘s argument that play is social glue and adaptive wild card.
- Charlie Todd‘s playful attempts to bring us together with whimsy.
- Neuroscientist Jeff Mogil‘s discovery that games increase empathy.
We also drew inspiration from two poems:
- Lady Jordan by Denice Frohman
- Hide and Seek by Charles Simic
Then we considered these questions as we wrote:
- When has play made your life better?
- What has play taught you about life?
- How/when does play give you life?
- When has play connected you with others?
Both my students and writing group had so much to say about this topic and these ideas. I invite you to take this journey with us and JUST WRITE!
