All mammals (and even many other animals) play when they are young. It’s how they learn.
When they aren’t afraid to try new things and fun with new experiences, their brains (and bodies) develop and they are able to grow to where they will be successful adults.
And then, in animals just as in humans: it stops. Instead of investing in more growth, they stop playing and they focus on survival and raising young.
From an evolutionary point of view, it makes sense that they would only spend so much time developing and then, when ready, would devote all of their time to raising new copies of their DNA.
But let’s say your primary goal wasn’t just to pass on your genetic material, and you weren’t simultaneously facing all of the challenges of caveman life. Is this really the best way to go about life?
Of course it’s not.
Life is very different now, I’m likely to live much longer than a caveman, and my priorities differ greatly. I think it’s extremely obvious that development should continue long past our mid-twenties.
Now, I’m well aware that primary brain development stops around 26, and that seems to coincide closely with when most people stop “playing” much. I’m not sure to what extend it’s possible to keep learning like a child beyond that time.
But my gut tells me that if you approach new experiences and challenges with child-like enthusiasm and interest, you are very likely to learn new things and develop yourself at any age.
So while I know the “grown-up” thing to do as one ages is to become more serious, stop trying new things, and to focus strictly on production, I just don’t think that’s for me. I think it’s a huge shame to stop playing and trying new things. And it might just be halting development that could easily continue, too.
It may even be possible that the rate of development and improvement enjoyed by children and young adults could by matched long into more advanced ages. It seems to me that if you managed to do so, you would have an incredible advantage over your peers by the time you were middle-aged.
So I think I’ll keep playing!