It's likely that there are many factors at work. You'll hear everything from changes in diet, too much TV, too much social media, too much time in front of the

It's likely that there are many factors at work. You'll hear everything from changes in diet, too much TV, too much social media, too much time in front of the iPad, etc. As an anecdote to perhaps corroborate yours, it felt impossible for me to get up at 7am every morning M-F from the ages of 9-22. It also felt highly unnatural to be doing so at all, as a majority of my friends experienced the same thing -- a very shifted sleep schedule which started later in the evening and lasted 8+ hours into almost noontime. Of course this could all be due to too much TV, too much social media, too much iPad, etc. As for the article, play seems central to development. It certainly plays a role in bonding formation[1] and neural development[2]. However, just like every other factor, it's just hard to suss out its relative weight compared to everything else a child experiences during development. My personal view is that this is all very speculative. When we can model the brain better, whether it's through more carefully controlled studies or even through machine intelligence simulations, we will actually be able to determine its real value. Though, I do suspect its high. [1] http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/119/1/182.full http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/119/1/182.full [2] http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2014/08/06/336361277/scientists-say-childs-play-helps-build-a-better-brain http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2014/08/06/336361277/scientis...