Technology and play

What does play look like when a screen is always nearby?

We can play games on our phones, compete with people we've never met, build worlds, solve puzzles and spend hours absorbed in something on a screen. There is so much to enjoy.

I’m curious about what happens to play when technology becomes the place we go whenever we want to play.

When play is always available

We don't have to wait for someone to come over or find something to do anymore. There is always a game ready to play.

We can pick up our phone while waiting for something, play for a few minutes and put it away again. Or we can keep going for much longer than we intended.

The ease of it is part of the appeal.

When we play together

Technology can bring people together too.

We might play a game with family, friends or people on the other side of the world. We can laugh, compete, work something out together and share an experience without being in the same place.

Yet playing together on a screen isn't quite the same as being in the same room.

There can be something different about seeing someone's reaction, hearing them laugh or simply being alongside them.

When play doesn't need a screen

There are other kinds of play that don't need technology.

A game around the table. Making something. Kicking a ball around. Doing a puzzle. Making up a story. Going outside and seeing what happens. These kinds of play can take a little more effort to begin. We have to find something to do.

Perhaps that's part of the experience.

When play becomes entertainment

Sometimes we aren't really playing at all. We're watching someone else play, scrolling through short videos or moving from one piece of entertainment to the next. It can still be enjoyable.

Yet there is a difference between being entertained and being involved in something ourselves. Play asks something of us.

We make choices. We try things. We get things wrong. We start again.

What do we want to play?

Technology has given us so many new ways to play.

Perhaps we don't need to choose between screen-based play and everything else.

We might notice what kind of experience we're looking for.

Do we want to be entertained? Do we want to compete? Do we want to make something? Do we want to play with someone else?

Or do we simply want to see where our attention takes us when we're having fun?

I wonder what you might notice the next time you have some time to play, and what kind of play you find yourself choosing.