It can be said that technology is killing creativity in the sense that it is making it more challenging to be creative. This is because of the amount of information and distractions available on the internet.
Creativity has always been a topic of debate. It is not clear whether creativity can be taught or not, but one thing that is clear is that many factors influence creativity. These factors include environment, stress levels, personality type, and more.
Nowadays, with the help of technology, people can produce content much faster than before, but they are losing their creativity. Let's discuss this opinion in great detail.
It Is Common for People to Copy and Not Be Original
You can get pretty much anything you want online. There are templates for everything, and academic information is widely available on the internet, leading to increased piracy and, allegedly, less creative thought in educational settings.
Smashing Magazine reported on the demise of creativity in web design and development. They talk about templates, The Grid, and "rules" for web design that limit creative design. The author concludes that technology is, to some extent, killing creativity but it’s not dead. It is turning into a contest between man and machine, with man having the advantage thanks to his creativity.
Creativity Benchmarks Are Going Down
"It's a situation that many of us have found ourselves in: you're at a gathering, and the conversation has dried up. You've exhausted all of your witty anecdotes and interesting tidbits about your life. It's time to tap out."
This is what was happening to people before the discovery of mobile devices. A study in 2006 found that people were using their phones to fill awkward silences rather than talking with those around them. They were using their phones to avoid interacting with others, but they would often get caught up in their screens and forget about what was happening around them.
In the past few years, technology has made it easier for people to avoid talking with others by making it more convenient for people to be on their phones without being noticed.
According to Newsweek, intelligence scores have risen dramatically, but on the other hand, creativity scores have been going down since 1990.
Effect of Technology on Children's Creativity
Technology is an excellent thing for children. It helps them to learn and do something that would be hard for them to do without the help of technology. But it can also affect their creativity and imagination.
Children are spending too much time on the internet and not getting enough time to spend outside. This is because they can access all sorts of games and apps on their phone. This has led to a decrease in creativity among people as children cannot come up with their own ideas as they have already seen them elsewhere.
The Helping Side of Technology
Beyond that, utilizing technology in our daily lives is advantageous because it simplifies our lives. One of the most prevalent examples is its part in removing governmental and administrative barriers that prevent many people from exercising their creativity. Furthermore, technology has aided in shifting the practice of primarily judging creative ideas by experts.
Today, we can look at how the public reacts to a particular idea. As a result, the number of people who can assess the creative value of a specific project has grown.