It is clear that technology affects creativity, both positively and negatively. It is also interesting to consider that technology is also a result of creativity and creativity clearly precedes technology. Stone knives, wooden clubs and wheels are often considered as very early forms of technology. They could be created only through creativity. In this case, we should define what creativity is. Creativity is essentially an imaginative ability to produce something new, both tangible and untangible; even if it is just an abstract idea. An essential component of creativity is the originality of thinking. We can’t call someone as being creative if he creates something that’s already commonly available.
As we all know, creativity always precedes technology and technology itself is created by creativity. However, with the pervasive presence of the Internet and the comprehensive interaction between people through mobile devices, social media and other platforms – we often lament the loss of real creativity. Today, we often find terrible songs, unoriginal films, repetitive artwork and bad novels. It becomes much more difficult for people to express their creativity. Many people have come up with their own original ideas, however when they check them on the YouTube, someone had done something the same.
Today, being creative is no more about using our imaginative ability, but also checking the Internet to know what other people have created. Imaginative skill is different among many people and when millions of people with average creativity create something, they could seem to produce a mountain of crap. It’s not really about their laziness, but the global interconnectedness has made people with average imaginative skill to become, sadly, useless. However, it doesn’t mean that any average people can’t become creative anymore. Today, they need to work much harder in terms of making research.
They need to spend much time on research to gather methods and ideas already produced by other people. They could combine those ideas and if they are lucky, they may find a niche idea that people haven’t thought of. People should use the Internet to plow on through to make themselves become more productive and creative. There are always trends that we can find on the Internet and many people seem to do the same. In this case, we could make a list of these trends and we could find ways to approach these trends from a different angle. We could be considered as being creative if we are able to create new pathways to understand and enjoy something that’s considered common.
Instead of being stifled by technology, we should find ways to accelerate our creativity using technology. Obviously, there are tools that can help us to become more creative and productive, such as Photoshop and various CAD software. In a highly technological society, we should evolve our creativity process and we can’t rely entirely on our imaginative skill. In fact, diehard traditionalists will find themselves to become obsolete faster, if they refuse to learn latest changes.
