I recently read an interesting article posted by the (in)famous Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert.
He opines that today, every minute we have to spare, we use instead to access Facebook, check our mobile phones, message friends, view photos and so on. Even when we watch TV, we skip the adverts. Gone are the days when we actually had time to spare; when we had simple toys to keep us entertained. Did this boredom lead to some creative thinking? Is there evidence that creativity has declined today?
Here is his argument –
We see movie sequels not originals, reality shows not scripted ones, best-selling authors repackaging predictable stories and economies flattening due to lack of innovation.
Does his argument hold water? I think so.
1 comment:
This argument presupposes that "free time" or "boredom" is a prerequisite or source of creativity. I disagree.
I consider one of my own strengths my creativity and one of my weaknesses my ADHD-type personality. I almost always have 20 different thoughts at once in my head, but I think my creativity is sparked by a pressing challenge or difficult, abstract problem to solve. This challenge need not be one that occurs to me when I am sitting there without any distractions; if anything a challenge that keeps coming to my mind in spite of all my other distractions is the one that I end up dwelling on and trying to think of a creative solution for.
In other words, for me, today's crazy world, which involves continual multi-tasking and very little "down time," is actually a source (rather than drain) of creativity. As people's attention spans get lower and lower, we as entrepreneurs are forced to think about how our product or service can capture someone's attention and stand out despite all the noise. If we were living in yesterday's world, which involved fewer distractions, more commercials on TV, etc. I don't think this challenge would be quite so pressing.
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