The Compass

Adulthood and the importance of play


Listen Later

As an adult you have responsibilities, and life settles into routine. Researchers have found that even in the most boring jobs, workers find ways to introduce elements of play to make the time pass, while people with more creative occupations use play to free their imaginations and release creativity. The Situationist art movement of 1950s Paris thought that play was a political act, and that the city could be used as a playground to rebel against the restrictions of capitalism. Their legacy lives on in the immersive “street games”, such as snakes and ladders played in multi storey car parks and city-wide zombie hunts. But this natural tendency to play is also being co-opted by employers, some of whom want to “gamify” boring jobs, to make workers more productive by turning the tasks into a game, or who encourage their employers to play at work to make them more creative. Can workers really be asked to play on demand, and what happens when they play in ways that the employers never expected or wanted?

Presenter: Steffan Powell

Producer: Jolyon Jenkins

(Photo: Performers of The Free Association. Credit: Lidia Crisafulli)

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

The CompassBy BBC World Service

  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6

4.6

98 ratings


More shows like The Compass

View all
In Our Time by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time

5,389 Listeners

The Documentary Podcast by BBC World Service

The Documentary Podcast

1,839 Listeners

Global News Podcast by BBC World Service

Global News Podcast

7,886 Listeners

5 Live Science Podcast by BBC Radio 5 Live

5 Live Science Podcast

109 Listeners

6 Minute English by BBC Radio

6 Minute English

1,791 Listeners

Learning English Conversations by BBC Radio

Learning English Conversations

1,046 Listeners

Science In Action by BBC World Service

Science In Action

344 Listeners

More or Less: Behind the Stats by BBC Radio 4

More or Less: Behind the Stats

898 Listeners

Discovery by BBC World Service

Discovery

953 Listeners

The Forum by BBC World Service

The Forum

273 Listeners

The Infinite Monkey Cage by BBC Radio 4

The Infinite Monkey Cage

1,921 Listeners

Newshour by BBC World Service

Newshour

1,080 Listeners

The Life Scientific by BBC Radio 4

The Life Scientific

248 Listeners

Unexpected Elements by BBC World Service

Unexpected Elements

355 Listeners

Business Matters by BBC World Service

Business Matters

48 Listeners

The Inquiry by BBC World Service

The Inquiry

747 Listeners

The Real Story by BBC World Service

The Real Story

277 Listeners

CrowdScience by BBC World Service

CrowdScience

480 Listeners

People Fixing the World by BBC World Service

People Fixing the World

244 Listeners

Americast by BBC News

Americast

736 Listeners

You're Dead to Me by BBC Radio 4

You're Dead to Me

2,964 Listeners

Cover by BBC Radio 5 Live

Cover

278 Listeners

The Explanation by BBC World Service

The Explanation

28 Listeners

What in the World by BBC World Service

What in the World

16 Listeners