I am a playful person and I sincerely value play as a way to take inventory of the world, communicate with people and express our inner feelings. Looking back through my almost 30 years' life, I can see what have changed as well as what have remained in terms of my play.
When I was in my childhood, since I am the single child in my family (which is also the case for most of my friends), I played with my neighborhood peers. I was the leader of that small group of 7 or 8 children, including both boys and girls. Our parents gave us plenty of freedom to choose what we want to play and how to play, which I feel very grateful both then and now. Every winter or summer vacation, we would do a field trip to the countryside nearby with the money sponsored by our parents; we played badminton on the playground in our neighborhood, laughing, shouting and sweating; we played hide-and-seek in the "whole world" (meaning that you can run as far as you can) but ends up with the cat catchers giving up and going back home watching TV and the cats hanging around the neighborhood...
When I entered my adolescence, I preferred solitary play to group play. At that time, I was always immersed in my own world. After school, I would ride bicycle to the book store to select my favorite music tape and listen to it again and again and again; Flew a kite on the top floor until the kite slowly shrank and finally vanished; And what I liked most at that time was organizing according to a certain pattern (e.g., date, color) while listening to the music. Since then, I became extremely obsessed over logic and orderliness.
When I entered into my twenties when is the rapid expansion of electronic information, I, as well as my classmates and friends, normally spend my free time on computer. I chat with my friends on line; I watch movies and TV dramas on line; I read e-books on Kindle; I listen to the online music and I even shop online instead of going outside to the mall... Yes, I have much more choices of recreation owing to the convenience and diversity that internet brings to me. Nevertheless, I feel guilty and emptiness from time to time. I kind of lose the joy and enrichment back to the time when the choices are quite limited. At that time, I always
repeatedly appreciated the book, music or movie until I finally memorize them. This externally tedious repetition is actually the essence that contributing the exquisiteness of our life.
To summarize, my personal history of my play is on the path from unconsciousness to self-awareness; from group play with limited choices to solitary play with ample choices; from pure happiness to value-based pleasure. I may have lost the fun in the childhood that becomes extremely difficult to review as I grow up. But that might be the cost of growth.
The description of your reliance on technology for play and entertainment, for communication with friends, etc., seems at odds with the picture of you that you have chosen for your Blog. You show yourself having fun outside -- playing! And, much of what you have written about is not solitary at all -- going skating with friends, visiting and having fun with family, etc. It's interesting how different how we see ourselves from how others may see us!
ReplyDelete