The world bombards us with information at a rate that's impossible to keep up with. In the time it took you to read that first sentence, your senses were hit with over 11 million pieces of information. Your brain sifts and prioritizes this deluge, ignoring irrelevant data, such as the number of leaves on the apple in the fruit bowl, and presenting the important stuff you need to make quick decisions, like the pot on the stove that's about to boil over.
We must make decisions based on limited relevant information and without the luxury of time to pore over details. The human brain accomplishes this feat by relying on storytelling, one of the most powerful tools we possess. (Case in point: some may remember the little story about the child reaching up for the pot on the stove... its hard to forget!)
Neuroscientist Antonio Damasio describes storytelling as the mechanism that makes wisdom "understandable, transmissible, persuasive, enforceable," and "sticky." Stories are how we transmit important information in manageable packages. They allow us to make sense of the senseless world around us, providing life lessons and warnings that prepare us for daily challenges.
As Lisa Cron writes in "Wired For Story," "story is the language of experience, whether it's ours, someone else's or that of fictional characters." We learn as much from other people's stories as from our own. Therefore, the content and quality of the stories we read matter greatly.
At Playfable, we created a platform for storytelling because we are disappointed with the direction of modern narratives. We believe that stories should promote classic values and principles of personal responsibility and building resilience, rather than focusing on collective responsibility and amplifying grievances.
There is a lot to this subject, including how and why we believe there's a need for a return to strong storytelling and stoic principles, and we'll cover this here in our blog over the months to come.
How valuable are stories to you? Are there stories that have stuck with you from childhood? We mention some of our favourites on our Twitter and Instagram feeds and we'll certainly be talking about some here on the blog in time too! Feel free to comment or engage with us here or on social media, we'd love to hear from you!