We need to have fun. But what exactly is healthy fun?

(Representational image) Think back to three instances when you had a blast, to identify the people and activities that generate fun for you.

The pandemic, like Rasputin, has proven difficult to extinguish. Yet, it is imperative that we remember to have fun. Certain types of fun remain accessible to us despite Covid. We can drink, order food and watch web series. But is that really fun or self-destructive instant gratification? It is the latter, according to Catherine Price, author of the recently released The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again.

Price identifies “connection” and “flow” as two of the key ingredients of healthy fun. Connection means another person should be involved in the activity. Flow entails being so absorbed in that activity that you lose the sense of time. Bingewatching TV, on the other hand, is just a mind-numbing and passive exercise.

“Playfulness” is another feature of wholesome fun, Price says.

“Playfulness isn’t about playing games. It’s a quality of lightheartedness that allows you to do things in everyday life just for the pleasure of it,” Price wrote recently in The New York Times.

She also said, “My research has shown me that true fun, as I call it, materializes when we experience the confluence of three psychological states: playfulness, connection and flow.”

In the article, Price offered four tips for real fun:

Cut down on fake fun

“'Fake' fun is my term for activities that take up our leisure time, but they don’t inspire playfulness or connection, or result in the total engagement that happens with flow,” Price wrote. “Time scrolling on social media or binge-watching television are two examples of fake fun that can make pandemic anxiety and hopelessness even worse.”

Find your fun magnets

Price suggested identifying three experiences from your life when you really had fun. “Think of times when you laughed with other people and felt completely engrossed in the experience. What were you doing? Who were you with? What made the experience feel so good? Your goal should be to identify the activities, settings and people that often generate fun for you.”

Put fun on your calendar

Fun might be an emotional experience that can’t be forced. But Price said you can improve your chances of having that experience by planning. “It is possible to make fun more likely to occur, simply by prioritizing the people and activities that are the most likely to create it for you,” she wrote.

Find ‘microdoses’ of fun

If your favourite activities are not possible for logistical reasons, find “microdoses” of fun, Price said.

“Try to create as much connection, playfulness and flow in your everyday life as possible, whether it’s by sharing a smile with a stranger, calling a colleague instead of emailing or doing something nice for a friend,” she wrote. “Every time you do so, take note of how it affects your mood.”