

De-emphasize Age, Refocus on Play - rwaliany
http://simplyryan.com/2010/08/29/de-emphasize-age-refocus-on-play/

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donaldc
I think that this is a better and more constructive article than the various
other age-related articles drifting around. It may very well be that the level
of fluid intelligence is the real issue, and that this level is partially
inversely correlated with age because, as time goes on, more and more people
stop playing, and few ever start playing again once they've stopped.

Many people probably stop play-like activities because they consider it to be
wasted time, much like sleep, and so it gets the axe when time is scarce.
Perhaps if they realized its importance, they'd make time for it.

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api
I think a culprit in age-related decline of fluid intelligence is Careerism.

I don't mean the idea that you should take your career seriously. That would
be lower-case-C careerism. What I mean is the idea that you should evaluate
every aspect of your life from a point of view of "will this get me a
promotion" or "will this get me a better job?"

That not only causes you to stop playing, but in my experience it kills all
creativity dead.

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rwaliany
I complete agree.

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flatulent1
Some of the more creative people I've known seem to be the same ones that blur
the lines between work and play. They'll have an interest in something and
dive into it having a great time. They're constantly thinking, analyzing,
enjoying what they're doing, looking at every angle of doing something.
(sounds like Apple?) They're not afraid of much of anything either, including
some failures (which they also learn from). They're not going through some
memorized motions, they're heavily involved.

I guess that's where they play side of it ties in... heavy involvement, and
the happy-chemicals that go with fun/play help to more easily form mental
pathways. Disliking what you're doing, being completely bored/mechanical or
having excessive levels of anxiety tends to shut one down mentally.

Work hard and play hard

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ww520
Does playing video games count? I have plenty of those under my belt. :)

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luu
Yes [1].

[1] Rosser JC Jr, Lynch PJ, Cuddihy L, Gentile DA, Klonsky J, Merrell R., The
impact of video games on training surgeons in the 21st century., Arch Surg.
2007 Feb;142(2):181-6; <http://archsurg.ama-
assn.org/cgi/content/full/142/2/181>

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ww520
Awesome! All those playing are not a waste of time as everyone has berated me.

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revanth
Well great to know. But I thinks they are some other factors apart from Fluid
and Crystallized intelligence.

