The New York Times recently wrote about a Gen Z trend called the “wellness darty,” apparently a day party built around wholesome activities rather than drinking. Think running, yoga, cold plunges, music, coffee, games, and people actually interacting in person. Great idea, terrible name.

But it points at something for which I don't think we have a very good word. We have hangout and we have workout. Maybe we need playout.

The distinction matters. In a hangout, the people are the activity. In a workout, the self is the activity. In a playout, the interaction is the activity. “Wanna playout Sunday? Bocce? Darts? Pong?” It sounds surprisingly natural.

A playout doesn't have to involve exercise. It could be darts, ping-pong, mahjong, backgammon, Pokémon, video games, bocce, pool, cards or karaoke. The point is simply to do something playful together.

This can make getting to know someone much easier. Put two relatively new friends across a dinner table for two hours and they need two hours of material. Put a backgammon board between them and suddenly nobody cares about a little silence. You talk, you roll, you tease each other, somebody makes a terrible move, conversation starts again. The game takes some of the pressure off the people.

A playout can certainly be exercise. A hard game of ping-pong makes me sweat, and even a serious round of darts can get surprisingly physical. The distinction isn't exertion. A workout is primarily something I'm doing to myself. A playout happens between us. Sometimes, happily, we get both at once.

And we may be exercising something more important than we realize. Social skills need reps too. We practice reading each other, taking turns, joking, competing, cooperating and recovering from the tiny awkward moments that inevitably occur between humans. You can't get those reps alone, and increasingly you can't get them through a screen.

Social connection is vital to health, but connection isn't simply something we have. It is also something we practice. A workout exercises the body. A playout exercises our ability to be with other people.

Adults understand that children need play and then somehow decide that grownups should mostly meet for dinner and talk. Maybe that's making friendship unnecessarily difficult. We don't always need another hangout, and not everything healthy has to feel like a workout.

Sometimes we should just playout.