Is Technology Limiting Creativity?: Ever since the significant rise of technology, there has been this ongoing debate whether it’s is killing our Creativity? Well… It definitely is not. Why? Let’s find out.
Imagine the year is 2001, you are on your way to a friend’s place but you forget the address, so you remind yourself of this old lady with a cat that lived next to her and how once that cat got stuck into the tallest telephone tower but thankfully the animal shelter was nearby so the cat was rescued. Now, you know that your friend’s house is near an animal shelter, close to the telephone tower.
Inspiring your journey, one story at a time. #LifeFalcon.
And the reason you were able to figure that out was that you got creative.
Now, imagine having the same problem in 2021, you can just take out your phone, check your friend’s live location and get to their house without any delay,
Is it more convenient? Yes.
Is it less creative? Also, yes
But, is our accessibility to this information through technology hindering our ability to be creative? Not really.
With the help of technology, we have access to an increased amount of resources, ideas, content, and information. And, if one thing that this availability of content is affecting is that it is inspiring us to be more creative.
Today, we will be diving deeper into this question, is technology limiting creativity? And discuss all the different aspects of technological effects on our day-to-day life and trying our best to answer this question for you guys. So, let’s dig in:
Table of Content
Competition makes us Creative
It is the availability and presence of so many ideas that force us to become creative, to create something new, and to present new things and ideas that were never seen before.
When there is so much already present you have no option but to get creative and in order to stand out, you must make something new.
The questions like how do we stand out in this huge crowd of people? How do we make others hear us? How do we make people see us? How do we grab their attention? These are the questions that resulted in the invention of Uber, PayPal, Facebook, and many more.
Suppose you are creating a new app for easy delivery, but there is already post offices, so you think what if we offer same-day delivery, but there is already express delivery.
So, you think what if we created something that traditional delivery services do not deliver?
What if you really want a lipstick from a store but you can’t go out to get it yourself for some reason, what then?
This is your idea now!
You create a delivery service that buys your things for you and then delivers them to your doorstep, this is how we got Post mates, a delivery service which is the result of competition.
It is this abundance of already present ideas that motivated the innovators to get creative and create something new.
Ideas inspire Ideas
When we see someone do something new, it motivates us to do the same.
Creativity is the offspring of motivation, once you become motivated to do something, you become creative, you think of new ways, new solutions, and new ideas through which you can fulfill these goals, meet those aspirations and realize those dreams.
If we are never introduced to new ideas and new information we are limited to the past and never notice the new possibilities.
We become ambitious when we see others reap the fruit of their ambition, it is their success that makes us yearn for ours, and it gives us a reality check.
If they can do it then so can we.
If they can achieve new heights of success then so can we.
And, all it takes is one Idea, a new idea and the intention to manifest that idea and to birth it to reality, using creativity and hard work.
Technology provides a Platform
With the rise of gaming technology and E-Games, more and more people including kids and adults have been taking part in this advancement, which has opened a previously untapped and really big market.
With more people enjoying games, more creators are creating new, innovative, and fun games to gain the interest of the fastest-growing demographic i.e. gamers.
With more technologies, computers and programs being designed keeping the needs of these people in mind, it gives the creators a chance to be creative, to think outside of the box, to bring new ideas to life and to give people something new to look forward to and enjoy.
From graphic designs to animation, from voice actors to costume designers, every single sector of online games is booming with creativity that could never be seen in the absence of technology,
Hence, technology is providing many creative inventors a platform to showcase their talent.
Art and Innovation
Technology is now serving as a highway that is connecting the whole world together and it is giving artists a morale boost to continue and further improve their art.
For example, In the case of music production, especially “computer music generation”, the creative possibilities are endless. Not only for professional musicians but also for an aspiring musician who otherwise would not have pursued music, had it not been accessible within the comfort of their own homes.
Now, they too can engage in these creative endeavors while experimenting, expressing, and creating something new even if it’s for their own sake, technology has given people the freedom to express themselves creatively.
Digital art is another form of Art which has experienced great innovation due to rise of technology; people can create new art designs, whether it is realistic or comical.
Similarly, the visual effect is a prime example of how technology is giving people more creative freedom so that they can incorporate imagination in traditional film and T.V which would not have been impossible without technological advancement.
It is because of this innovation in arts and technology that we got to experience masterpieces like Avengers, Avatar, and Game of Thrones, just to name a few.
Intelligence is Creativity
The most common reservation people have regarding technology is that it has decreased people’s creativity levels, however, in recent times we have noticed that the average IQ score has significantly increased compared to the past.
This phenomenon is known as the Flynn Effect, which states that the recorded levels of both fluid and crystallized intelligence seemed to have improved over the decades.
When it comes to fluid Intelligence, we can solve problems, think out of the box and respond on the spot, which in other words would be called creativity. So the most common claim against technology that people have is actually invalid, proved by the research itself.
Since technology has progressed so much over the past decades, more people are using it and are surrounded by it, maybe it correlates to the high intelligence level on average, and we are not sure whether the increased level of intelligence is related to the high incorporation of technology in daily use.
However, regardless of that, it still manages to counter the argument made against technology and does prove that the creativity level has increased over the years instead of decreasing. If anything it has changed forms and shapes but is still an important part of our life, even more now than before.
In Defense of Technology
Whenever it comes to new and advanced technology people always have some reservations against it. Usually, people think it is too harmful to us, it is wasting our time, it is limiting our potential, and it is making us dependent on it, and so on.
When phones were first introduced people were cautious of it, they would not let the kids use them and always found themselves criticizing adults who let their kids have their phones, same was the case for smartphones and the internet, and now all of these things play an important part in our day to day life and we cannot imagine ourselves functioning without it.
When Facebook was first introduced to the masses, most people protested against its use and treated it as a dark dangerous weapon that should be kept away from the kids, and now these are the same people who start their mornings by updating their status.
Maybe the protest against technology is due to our unfamiliarity with it, we as humans perform well when we know what the outcome will be and feel comfortable under our old ways, but technology brings with it change, new outcomes, and new possibilities and we fear that we fear the unknown, but once we become familiar with the new, we accept it with open arms.
Those who fear change always find themselves finding excuses to avoid it, instead of accepting a thing, they find ways to prevent its spread, so maybe the claim that technology is limiting our creativity is just another attempt to stop the masses from going into the dark and unfamiliar territory, perhaps it is their swan song before they leave the blanket of comfort and welcome the unknown.
In just a few years, we will find ourselves surrounded by technology, in all spheres and corners of life. We can already see testaments of that even today, when we find it hard to operate without technology, from getting to places using GPS and buying new things online through credit cards to mobile transactions and online classes.
It is almost impossible to disconnect ourselves from technology. As new things progress, we continue to create new and advanced facilities and later on, we find ourselves finding ways to assist it. After all, the concept of technology is also a product of creativity itself.
Bottom Line
Is Technology Limiting Creativity? No. As we have discussed earlier, technology does not limit creativity, instead, it assists it. In recent unprecedented times, it further proved its value. When we stood in front of novel situations, it was the technology that allowed us to get creative and stay afloat. From Schools to Businesses, Markets and Media, we all simultaneously adapted to this situation with the help of technology.
At the beginning of the pandemic when we found ourselves trapped inside our homes, with seemingly no escape from reality and the boredom that came with it.
We got creative and found ways to keep ourselves entertained, we learned new skills, practiced some old ones, dealt with the pending tasks and created new ones for ourselves, and we were able to do that all by the help of technology, it was the technology that helped us during those time, helped us stay connected with our loved ones even in times of isolation, it kept us sane so that we could afford to be creative.
If you wanted to draw more, cool, open Pinterest and find inspiration, if you wanted to cook more, easy, find a recipe and give it your twist.
Creativity comes when we have no other option but to be creative; it flows best when it is forced to do so, so when we were forced to operate under the current nature of things it was the technology that played a huge part and helped us in our journey to adapt to the new reality.
We all saw a huge rise in creativity among people, we made new things, we invented new apps, we adapted to new situations, we dealt with problems, quickly and creatively, we proved to the world how much we can do and achieve if only we decide to do so, it is yourselves who control what we can do and cannot do, and the only thing that can limit ourselves is us as well.
Either we can blame other things for our lack of creativity or we can shed the old shell of comfort and challenge ourselves to be creative.
