I thought this, via Aeon, would be interesting, although when I watched the video (7 minutes here) I wasn’t so sure. Is he saying that we need to ‘gamify’ all aspects of work so that people are more engaged and have more fun? Why does work have to be fun all he time and surely some aspects of work need a level of deep thinking and attention that screens, constant movement and distraction destroy. Moreover, shouldn’t humans focus on what humans do best and use machines to amplify this?

Personally I think that some aspects of gaming could be useful to apply to real world situations, including work in some instances, but overall I think the negatives far outweigh the positives and that the argument is weak. Surely, this is yet another example of digital solutionism. Screens and games are fine, but they shouldn’t remove us, distract us or distance us from physical human contact or thinking that is deep, sustained and reflective.

This is worth a read too if you are pro, although again I don’t agree with it.