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 Class Forums - Spring 2007
 MIND 293 - Play as a Route to Insight, etc.
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Meagan Birely
Fledgling

12 Posts
Posted - Apr 30 2007 :  4:28:37 PM  Show Profile
Today in class we discussed how technology degrades play. Did anyone have any more thoughts on that? I thought Max brought up a very interesting point.

[Lightly edited to improve readability —TKT]

Kelly Dale
Fledgling

11 Posts
Posted - Apr 30 2007 :  4:44:23 PM  Show Profile
I agree with the thought that technology degrades play. Kids today are playing more adult type games. They are where they are playing video games that have more adult content where they are shooting at people or have very sexual content. They don’t go and play games that expand their imagination or enrich their lives in any way.
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Meagan Birely
Fledgling

12 Posts
Posted - Apr 30 2007 :  4:49:47 PM  Show Profile
Yes I agree. Kids are definitely playing differently from the way we did. I don't know if I would call them “adult,” but they definitely have “adult content.” I think this type of play is a new form that has evolved with technology. The technology has allowed these kids to play [with?]millions of different kids across the country over the Internet forming new types of play communities. Instead of playing with the neighborhood kids they are playing internationally and not having human contact and interaction.

[Lightly edited to improve readability —TKT]
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Kelly Dale
Fledgling

11 Posts
Posted - Apr 30 2007 :  4:52:45 PM  Show Profile
Even though they are “playing” these games on the Internet with other kids, they are not developing any true, long-lasting relationships. I know that when I was little and played with the kids in the neighborhood, I developed relationships that have lasted to this day. I think part of play is learning how to function with people. Kids today just aren't getting that.

[Lightly edited to improve readability —TKT]
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Meagan Birely
Fledgling

12 Posts
Posted - Apr 30 2007 :  4:55:11 PM  Show Profile
The quality of this type of technological play is not as good, or even close, to the quality of play you get when you are physically interacting. I think that play is a huge part of growth and development. It helps with social skills, logic, imagination, and so on. While technology has created a new form of play, it has ruined another form.

[Lightly edited to improve readability —TKT]
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Kelly Dale
Fledgling

11 Posts
Posted - Apr 30 2007 :  4:56:20 PM  Show Profile
I agree totally!!!


Another topic that was brought up had to do with the debate about whether play is more beneficial if it is engaged in outside rather than inside...what do you think?

[Lightly edited to improve readability —TKT]
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Meagan Birely
Fledgling

12 Posts
Posted - Apr 30 2007 :  5:01:36 PM  Show Profile
Inside vs. outside play is a very interesting topic, and I am surprised we haven't talked about it before now. I think both are very valid, but again outside play has more quality attached to it. Playing outside lets your mind wander; it presents the opportunity to meet new people, and being outside is just a good thing in general. Inside play does allow some of these things but I think it has more limits and can only take you so far. Outside play also holds new possibilities for creating play communities. Take sports for example. Playing baseball outside makes one feel good and also helps create a new play community with people who all have an interest in baseball.

[Lightly edited to improve readability —TKT]
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Meagan Birely
Fledgling

12 Posts
Posted - Apr 30 2007 :  5:02:46 PM  Show Profile
How do you feel about inside vs. outside play??
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Kelly Dale
Fledgling

11 Posts
Posted - Apr 30 2007 :  5:04:57 PM  Show Profile
I agree.... [It’s good to] "think outside the box," [and] it is hard to do this when you are inside. It is not impossible, but it is definitely an easier feat if you are outdoors. Inside play is definitely not a bad thing, and outside play is definitely not perfect, however, I think you need an both—and in equal measures—in order to have play be as beneficial as possible.

[Lightly edited to improve readability —TKT]
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Meagan Birely
Fledgling

12 Posts
Posted - Apr 30 2007 :  5:07:00 PM  Show Profile
How do you think this new form of technological play will change how kids today will grow up compared to how we grew up (we being the people who didn't have x-box and Internet gaming when we were younger)?

[Lightly edited to improve readability —TKT]
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Kelly Dale
Fledgling

11 Posts
Posted - Apr 30 2007 :  5:13:33 PM  Show Profile
That is a very interesting question. Of course these types of things are hard to predict because we do not have any other group that has had the technology that these kids have today. I think it will be harder for kids to develop close personal relationships. As a result it will be difficult when it comes to forming marriages and relationships of that sort. I think that the ever rising divorce rate will rise even faster and something like marriage might even become a thing of the past. This may be a bit radical but I am thinking very far into the future. It is a proven fact that people need human contact to survive, and without that I think the disease rate may go up because people won't have anyone to help them cope. Granted we will have more developed medicines, but people will need them more often.

[Lightly edited to improve readability —TKT]
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Meagan Birely
Fledgling

12 Posts
Posted - Apr 30 2007 :  5:16:05 PM  Show Profile
Your human interaction comment reminds me of the movie Crash...it is so true! I agree with you.
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Kelly Dale
Fledgling

11 Posts
Posted - Apr 30 2007 :  5:16:45 PM  Show Profile
I think this topic is very interesting...I should go see that movie; sounds like a good one.

[Lightly edited to improve readability —TKT]
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Kristina Topolski
Fledgling

10 Posts
Posted - Apr 30 2007 :  5:59:48 PM  Show Profile
So technology might bring about a different type of play. If it is truly play or not, I don’t know because I think it depends on the situation. What I do wonder about is this. Since the “way” of play has changed, what has happened to imagination? I have found that the truest forms of play can be found in children. I think this has to do with imagination. Children must generate their own forms of play to entertain their ever-growing minds. So what happens when imagination isn’t necessary anymore? Does play stop? When the games are computer-generated and the characters weird and wacky, does play stop? When the rules are already made up and the goals are set in stone, does play stop? Is it damaged by this? I don't know, what do you think?

[Lightly edited to improve readability —TKT]
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Meagan Birely
Fledgling

12 Posts
Posted - May 01 2007 :  6:16:20 PM  Show Profile
I think you bring up a very interesting question! I had not thought of that! I don’t think imagination ceases altogether just because there is a very narrow view to those types of games. I think that the imagination changes, and maybe they begin to apply this to other games as well. This in turn changes those games and forms of play. I don’t know though...any other thoughts?

[Lightly edited to improve readability —TKT]
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Kelly Dale
Fledgling

11 Posts
Posted - May 01 2007 :  6:33:23 PM  Show Profile
I am not a big video game person, but on the rare occasion that I play one I find that I rarely am using my imagination. What I want to see is laid out in front of me. I am not using my mind to picture the situation. When you’re playing a video game, you might have to imagine what is going to come next, but I think using your imagination fully involves picturing the entire situation in your head; it isn’t just laid out in front of you on a TV screen. I definitely think video games and technology of that sort degrades imagination as well as play.

[Lightly edited to improve readability —TKT]
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Kristina Topolski
Fledgling

10 Posts
Posted - May 02 2007 :  10:57:48 AM  Show Profile
Do you think that technology has impacted how we desire to play or not play when we get older, from the lack of in depth play in childhood? What I mean is the loss of playing house, playing cowboys and indians, space searchers, power rangers, etc. The games that involved a total freedom of imagination. You generate your own situation and your own rules and there is no necessity to comply to "win" but winning comes from rules the children set with each other. I dunno, I see it as a freer play.

Instead children are complying with the rules of video games and computer games. Though imagination might be different, does it affect how we act when we grow up? Do we comply with the rules of society and stay mainsteam because we aren't learning as children how to generate our own individual play?

I don't know, what do you think?

[Lightly edited to improve readability —TKT]
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Chris Schermerhorn
Fledgling

7 Posts
Posted - May 03 2007 :  8:19:35 PM  Show Profile
It’s sad for me to say this as a video game player, but I think it might affect future generations and their concept of play. With each new innovation in technology, the child spand [sic] of imagination closes in on these rules." It is almost as if you are being forced to imagine what they want you to. When I was a kid I used imagine that I was the video game character and run and play outside, but now it seems as if all the kids want to do is just play the game. I think that we stay bound to the rules of society because it keeps us safe. It keeps us safe from feeling alone and embarassed by doing something different from what everybody else is doing.

[Lightly edited to improve readability —TKT]
*Chris: can you explain what you meant here?
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Shane White
Newcomer

2 Posts
Posted - May 04 2007 :  10:29:21 AM  Show Profile
So everyone seems to agree that for the most part technology debases play, that the whole competition thing gets in the way of simply enjoying a game. What about Internet networking sites though? When I go to YouTube I am finding information, but I am also having fun and playing. I am interacting with other people online, sending them videos, commenting on theirs, and you could say that we are playing together. What do you think?

[Lightly edited to improve readability —TKT]
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Kit Peterson
Fledgling

14 Posts
Posted - May 04 2007 :  1:39:07 PM  Show Profile
I agree, and what about computer games such as “The Sims”? Now that is a game that you could play for hours and hours, and there is no winning, or competition. There is even Sims Online, where you can go and play the game with other people around the world, and it’s still the same game. It’s very enjoyable and anyone who plays it basically gets addicted, and yet it’s based on real life, so what about that? I think there are exceptions to everything, and even though I would agree that a lot of technology degrades play, not all of it does. I would even go so far as to argue that there are things about it that enhance play, but only a select few things.

[Lightly edited to improve readability —TKT]
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Meagan Birely
Fledgling

12 Posts
Posted - May 04 2007 :  2:34:54 PM  Show Profile
I agree that not ALL technology degrades play, but I am not sure about the enhancement of it. What kind of technology enhances play?
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