Playground Blues

Highlights

Walk down the street of any large city in any country of the world and watch the people who are talking on their cell phones: they are in their own space, physically adjacent to one location and one set of people but emotionally somewhere else. It is as if they fear being singletons in the crowd of strangers and opt instead to maintain connection with their pack, even if the pack is elsewhere. The cell phone establishes its own private space, removed from the street. Were the two people together, walking down the street, they would not be so isolated, for they would both be aware of one another, of the conversation and of the street. But with the cell phone, you enter into a private place that is virtual, not real, one removed from the surrounds, the better to bond with the other person and the conversation. And so you are lost to the street even while walking along it. Truly a private space in a public place.

Csikszentmihalyi's flow state is a special, detached state of consciousness, in which you are aware only of the moment, of the activity, and of the sheer enjoyment. It can occur in almost any activity: skilled tasks, sports, video games, board games, or any kind of mind-absorbing work. You can experience it in the theater, reading a book, or with intense problem solving.

The conditions required for flow to occur include lack of distractions and an activity paced precisely to match your skills, pushing you slightly above your capabilities. The level of difficulty has to be just at the edge of capability: too difficult and the task becomes frustrating; too easy and it becomes boring. The situation has to engage your entire conscious attention. This intense concentration causes outside distractions to fade away and the sense of time to disappear. It is intense, exhausting, productive, and exhilarating. It is no wonder that Csikszentmihalyi and his colleagues have spent considerable time exploring the phenomenon in its many manifestations.