Einstein, Mr. Rogers and TikTok
“Creativity is intelligence having fun”
-Albert Einstein
“Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.”
-Mr. Rogers
At first I was annoyed by yet another seemingly self-focused social media platform arising to take the place of normal human movement development and face -to- face human interaction.
It’s not the tech itself as so many recent article have bemoaned or even railed against.
It’s about what the time to use and interact with that tech is replacing.
For kids and teens, a generation around the globe, what tech time replaces is essential to human development, physical, mental and social.
All people, starting with developing children need to learn social skills and create mental well being through free play with peers.
For optimal physical development and long term health, proper motor development through broad movement exposure, exploration and experimentation are paramount.
Social Media does not seem to be part of this equation and often competes for time against these necessary experiences. Which brings me back to TikTok, and the realization that its exploding popularity may just be that dance, long considered an expression of play, fulfills the need for both movement exploration and social play.
Since we live with the realities of tech expansion* in our lives, we should applaud those that are creating any opportunity for increased social play and movement.
Continuing to Do What Is Best for kids requires us to acknowledge positive developments, while still working to promote good old fashioned outdoor free play and real, consistent broad movement exposure alongside peers.
We can only change the world if we continue our quest to Imagine Better.
*The exposure kids have in any tech platform must be considered and monitored with vigilance to be protected from those who would prey on children, sadly no internet based platform is immune to these concerns.
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