Are Toys Still Relevant?

During my childhood, especially on my birthday eve, I remember how desperately I would be waiting for my parents to return home. The moment they stepped in, I would eagerly run and grab their bags, looking for something special. In one such instance, to my surprise, I found a cute little puppy doll. I used to talk with it, dance with it, play with it, and even fight with it. I sometimes imagine a scenario where we try to save the world from an evil doctor, which is obviously my parents’ hard-earned pillows, which ends up getting beaten by us. Thus, the world is saved!

My shelves were always filled with toys of different kinds. They gave me happiness, company, made me creative, and taught me how to derive joy from even little things. But in today’s world, we are witnessing the digitalization of toys, replacing them with one flashy box–the smart phone. So, this has instigated a question in me–are toys becoming a relic of the past?

Once upon a time, Remote cars, Superhero action figures, Barbie dolls, Power-rangers face masks, and LEGO building sets were dominating the shelves of the kids. They not only captured the playroom, but also the imagination of every child playing. Every toy had a story behind its arrival in our homes. The childish desire, endless fasting, those raining tears reflecting an adamant resolve, yet ready to comply with any parental conditionalities, all those endeavours just to get one new toy. However, in reality, such sweet battles were fought every time for another new toy.

Besides that, playing together with our friends and sharing their toys was like a Marvel-DC crossover of universes. And further, the eventual growth of envy towards our friend’s toy would start a new battle with our parents, which would usually be met with benevolent repression. So, we used to make add-ons to our existing toys to make it look superior. Costless competition through creativity was the norm back then.

But today, all such experiences are slowly fading. The easy availability of videos has civilized the kids, making the hard-fought wars for toys barbaric. The stubborn tears are being dried by the mobile’s bright blue lights. Endless fasting is now replaced by suppressed hunger due to the immersion into the screens. Parental conditionalities now turn into phone passwords that could be solved more easily than a zeroth-level Sudoku puzzle. Those children who were supposed to script their own dramas with their toys, are now losing their imagination to a pre-recorded animated video, played endlessly by that flashy box. The shelves and rooms are increasingly becoming empty, and so is the child’s childliness.

While screens have brought in equality, accessibility, and simplicity, one cannot deny how they are slowly depriving the kids of the joy of first touch, the ecstasy of accomplishment, and the filament of imagination associated with toys. In fact, science supports the positive impact of toys on child development. Toys not only drive emotional and social growth, but also build a child’s cognitive and motor skills. Many doctors even recommend physical toys like fidget spinners for stress and anxiety relief, especially for people with ADHD and autism.

Today, mobile phone games have containerized creativity and universalized its access. However, it cannot replace the original imagination ignited by a physical toy. Parents may feel that it is inexpensive and convenient to feed their kids by showing an animated video, but they must be aware of the physical and mental costs that their children might pay later. While using a smart phone has become essential, if not inevitable, that cannot be a valid reason to confine a child’s childhood to a recorded reality. So, the solution is not to abandon it, but to acquire a balance between the animated entertainment and active experience.

Therefore, the question is not whether toys are still relevant. But whether are we willing to hand them to our next generation or not? Are we going to let the toys that once made us capture the world through imagination, vanish? Definitely an interesting question to ponder upon!

 

Inspiration for creativity springs from the effort to look for the magical in the mundane

 

The story of a young boy and an apple tree is something that the world remembers, not for the apple which fell on his head, but for his scientific temper that led him to enquire into its reasons. This mundane apple event could be considered the beginning of the renaissance of creativity.

The widely known scientist, Isaac Newton was this young boy who discovered Laws of gravitation from that ordinary apple, highlighting that the creativity arises from the effort to look for unusual things from the usual, i.e. the magical from the mundane.

This essay will explore how creativity arises from ordinary things, how it differs from common thinking, why is it necessary, and how the obstacles for its development could be overcome.

Extraordinary from the ordinary

One can observe many ordinary things throughout the day. But these ordinary things have the potential to become extraordinary when a little thought is invoked to transform them. This little thought may be enough to solve many simple problems that we encounter in our daily life. Consider a chair with one leg slightly broken. This can be fixed by a well-folded paper placed beneath that broken leg.

By a little thought, a paper, which is traditionally used for writing is turned into something that can fix a chair. This illustrates how the magic arises from mundane.

This can also be illustrated by another example. A girl can use her bangles as a geometry tool to draw circles in her mathematics exam. This further reaffirms the presented argument.

A natural question arises in one’s mind after these examples – is the above thinking not the general thinking?

The answer lies in understanding the difference between creativity and general thinking. The general thinking is involved in utilizing a product for the purpose it was designed for. The creativity is involved in both the process of designing the product and utilizing it for reasons other than for which it was designed for.

This can be demonstrated with an example of soda can. The general thinking is invoked when the soda can is used to contain beverages, which is its primary purpose. But the creativity is required to select the best shape among the cylindrical, spherical, and cuboidal soda cans for the optimized output, i.e. for maximum volume at minimum cost of production. The used soda can, when reused as a pen stand is also an example of creativity.

Necessity of creativity

While a pen stand may not be a big necessity, the idea to create that is invaluable. Creativity is the basis for the survival and growth of the humans from turning a stone into a wheel to building rockets carrying humans to space. Consider an IT graduate becoming an IAS officer. Despite having different background, the officer can bring his/her IT skills and tech knowledge on AI (Artificial Intelligence), MIS (Management Information System), Data analysis, etc. to better tackle the challenges in the governance. Thus, can aid in realizing the vision of Digital India through the out-of-box thinking, which is the creativity.

The creativity aids a commoner to lead a sustainable life. A farmer can utilize the dung of cattle as a manure in the agricultural field. This will help reduce the out-of-pocket expenditure of the farmer, thus increasing the income on one hand and maintaining the sustainability of the field on the other.

It can also become a tool for empowerment of women. The Namo Drone Didi program of the government provides the women self-help groups (SHGs) with drones to provide it for rental services to farmers. This not only gives the women financial empowerment, but gives them the skills to operate it thus providing them technological literacy. This affirms that if empowerment is the goal of the government, then the creativity is the path to achieve it.

Further every country’s overall growth is dependent on Research and development (R&D), thus creativity is not an option but a necessity. But despite its significance, it cannot be denied that there exists a demand for creativity in the market.

Reasons for the creativity famine

As mentioned before, creativity is a form of out-of-the-box thinking. But it takes a moment for oneself to think out-of-the-box. That moment is a luxury of time. But unfortunately, the traditional education system seldom gives that moment, i.e. the time to stop and think.

It seems only to make the students race to obtain grades and certificates rather than acting as a transformational tool to shape oneself into skilled thinker. Such race leaves very little room to pause and think, thus letting the transformation, to rarely occur. The certificates may obtain the student a job, but for persisting in that job and excelling in that, transformation becomes necessary. Such transformation requires constant self-reflection through the thought process.

This helps both in the job and in life because the evolving challenges require adaptable methods to tackle them. This shows the significance of the role of creative thinking in achieving such an adaptability.

Thus, the goal of a good education system must be to prepare its citizens to transform themselves into creative thinkers rather than rote learners.

Attaining such an education system needs the rewiring of the traditionally followed colonial education model in most of India. A more flexible curriculum may be suitable for students that might help them control their course choices and the pace at which they finish their courses. This might make the learning more relevant, engaging, and transformational in this new age. The National Education Policy, 2020 is widely considered to have many promising solutions like the above feature including other ones like Academic Bank of Credits, multidisciplinary learning approach, multiple entry and exits, etc. This scheme aims to grow more active thinkers over rote learners, whose role is more relevant in this globalized world than ever before.

Creativity is not a bolt out of blue but a butterfly coming out of a cocoon. From apples to the bangles, paper to the cattle dung, soda cans to stone, every single mundane object could be turned into something magical if it is seen beyond its utility. And such an out-of-box thinking makes creativity different from general thinking. It also becomes necessary for the growth and prosperity of an individual, a society, a country, and the world. But unfortunately, it is lacking in many individuals as the education system has mostly restricted their time to pause and think out-of-box. A strong educational reform can help transform the rote learners into creative thinkers, who can be resilient, adaptive, and can solve the problems posed by this ever complex and interconnected global village. Creativity is not a certificate course, but a thinking skill that tries to reimagine the reality of the mundane into the magic!

Let us keep alive the democracy! Comment your thoughts below.