Don't Grow Up. Its a Trap

From Calvin & Hobbes published in today's Times of India Mumbai edition (13-July-2026)

Calvin: "How come grown-ups don't go out to play?"

Calvin's Father: "Grown-ups can only justify playing outside by calling it exercise, doing it when they'd rather not, and keeping records to quantify their performance"

As usual, another deeply profound dose of brilliance from little Calvin.

• Why do adults have to be productive?
• Why can't things be done simply for fun?

And why does everything need to be quantified? And converted to a metric?

• We don't walk, we count steps (10K target daily)
• We don't exercise, we count calories burnt
• We don't eat, we count the calories consumed (nowadays the protein intake)
• We don't post on social media, we count the reactions (likes, views, comments)
• We don't read, we count the number of books/pages read

Everything seems gamified and every metric continuously tracked (breathing, sleeping, steps etc.). The entire living sometimes becomes a performance review.

And as for the fun activities, seems FOMO plays more of role in deciding what to do than actual interest.

After all, as the old saying goes "Don't Grow Up. It's a Trap"

P.S. Additional research found that Calvin's parents are never named in the entire series