Adult Free Play Fosters Resilience, Creativity, and Connection

Key Quotes

"Turns out, as adults, most of us have kind of pushed play so far to the margins of our lives. We've forgotten how transformative and essential it can be not just for joy and connection, but for our resilience, our creativity, and the ability to navigate uncertainty."

Cas Holman argues that adults have marginalized play to the point of forgetting its crucial role. Holman highlights that play is not merely for enjoyment but is vital for developing resilience, fostering creativity, and managing life's uncertainties.

"When you're dealing with serious things in work or life, introducing play is an appropriate if not outright harmful--oh, false."

Cas Holman refutes the idea that play is inappropriate or detrimental in serious contexts. Holman explains that introducing play into work or life situations is not only suitable but can be beneficial, challenging the notion that seriousness and play are mutually exclusive.

"We come up being taught that there are right and wrong answers and that we kind of aspire to be right. We aspire to be good at things. In fact, we spend a lot of our childhood trying to become what we want to be when we grow up and kind of eliminating things along the way if we don't excel at them."

Cas Holman observes that societal conditioning emphasizes achieving "rightness" and excelling, leading adults to discard activities they don't master. Holman suggests this focus on achievement causes individuals to abandon playful pursuits that are beneficial but not tied to performance metrics.

"Free play is a little different in that it is--I think the biggest difference is intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation. And a big part of how we come up in school, which is also related, I think, to like the need to earn, is extrinsic motivation."

Cas Holman distinguishes free play from other forms by its intrinsic motivation, contrasting it with extrinsic motivators common in education and work. Holman explains that free play is driven by internal curiosity and desire, unlike activities performed for external rewards like grades or promotions.

"We become very uncomfortable with gray areas, which is where play lives. We become very uncomfortable with wrong answers. That was you do it until you do it right, or you you get it right, and then you're rewarded."

Cas Holman points out that the educational system's emphasis on correctness and reward for right answers makes adults uncomfortable with ambiguity. Holman argues that this discomfort with "gray areas" and "wrong answers" hinders engagement with play, which thrives in such spaces.

"The thesis of the future of learning is learning each other. And it was interesting to have a few different methods--some were conversational and trying to like make it non-hierarchical. This is the other thing about, like, the beauty of of play, like in, and it's not always easy to create the conditions for non-hierarchical play because so often there's, you know, a physical advantage."

Cas Holman proposes that the future of learning lies in intergenerational connection and mutual understanding, facilitated by play. Holman highlights that creating non-hierarchical play environments is challenging but essential for genuine learning and connection, especially across different age groups.