GROUP ASSIGNMENT

ELC 501 – ENGLISH FOR CRITICAL

ACADEMIC READING

FALCUTY OF COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA STUDIES

MC242 - BACHELOR OF COMMUNICATION (HONS.) PUBLIC RELATIONS

TOPIC : WRITTEN ARTICLE ANALYSIS

PREPARED FOR : MADAM MARINA ISMAIL

PREPARED BY :
NAME ID NUMBER

Haziq Hilmi Bin Nor Yazid Khairi 2019293884

Addreena Binti Ishak 2019883714
Is Technology Killing Creativity?
By Katie

When was the last time you talked to someone on the bus, in a waiting room or any other
“waiting” kind of place in public? The chances are that it has been a while. If you’re waiting
somewhere, your phone is in your hand and the entire waiting area looks something like
this…

The predominance of technology and smartphones in particular has lead to many

suggestions that creativity is being killed by our reliance on these tools. This isn’t a new
thought – people were suggesting that technology was extinguishing creative impulses long
ago. When I was a kid, it was TV and computer games that were to bring the downfall of
imaginations everywhere.
Yet here we still are, creating stuff.

So, what’s the deal really? Aldous Huxley wrote Brave New World back in 1932 where he
suggested a future in which humans sated a constant desire for distraction through
technology. Thought could be kept at bay because we would simply zap any boredom by
distracting ourselves with our technological devices.

That’s often the crux of the argument – that we’re sacrificing original thought for keeping
ourselves constantly entertained. It’s also argued that if we can find everything online
somewhere, we don’t give ourselves room to problem-solve and innovate on our own.

Others argue that technology is enhancing our creativity, so who’s right? Let’s look at both
sides of the argument…

Technology Is Killing Creativity

Have you seen a meme like the one below floating around the internet recently?
A strong argument for technology killing creativity is that kids (and adults) who always have
their heads in their phones, tablets or laptops lack imaginative activities that help to promote
creativity.

Has the device in your hand become the technological distraction Aldous Huxley described,
keeping thought at bay?

Scientific study tells us that we need time to daydream as daydreaming boosts our creativity.
If we’re filling any possible down time with scrolling through devices, are we inhibiting that
daydream time? Creativity is often referred to as a “use it or lose it” discipline. You might
work in a creative job role, but even you could be strangling your creativity by being fastened
to a device constantly.

Copying And Lack Of Originality Is Rife

You can access basically anything you like online. There are templates for everything and
even academic information is available all over the internet, resulting in more piracy and
allegedly, less creative thought when it comes to academic settings.

Smashing Magazine wrote about the disappearance of creativity in web design and
development. They speak of templates, The Grid and “rules” about web design inhibiting
creative design. The author concludes that technology is killing creativity to a certain extent,
but it’s not dead. It’s becoming the battle of machine vs. man, where man can win based on
imagination (if we’re willing to nurture it).

It’s Killing Our Content

Lack of originality is one thing with content, but technology is also accused of promoting lazy
communication and diminishing our creativity in that area. Check out what The Guardian has
to say:
“In fact, the web has done a great deal to kill people’s creativity. From the use of emoji in lieu
of words, to the proliferation of pre-determined functions to express our views – liking,
sharing, and, in some cases, disliking. These new universals of human interaction promote
efficient – but lazy – behaviours so that we can devote more time to consuming more
content.”

Creativity Scores Are Dropping

Newsweek reported on the findings of a recent study that indicated that while intelligence
scores have steadily risen, creativity scores have been declining since 1990. The
implications of this are sweeping as they say:
“The necessity of human ingenuity is undisputed. A recent IBM poll of 1,500 CEOs identified
creativity as the No. 1 “leadership competency” of the future. Yet it’s not just about
sustaining our nation’s economic growth. All around us are matters of national and
international importance that are crying out for creative solutions…”
While they haven’t yet conclusively determined what is behind the score drop, they did have
this to say with regard to technology:
“One likely culprit is the number of hours kids now spend in front of the TV and playing video
games rather than engaging in creative activities.”

Technology Is Enhancing Creativity

Ok, we can’t really argue that technology has facilitated a glut of copycat content, killed
conversation (even at dinner!) and provided a constant source of entertainment where
otherwise boredom may prompt creative thought. Is there a case for technology enhancing
creativity?

Information Doesn’t End Creativity

Even with all the data we have available and the content already out there, we still need
innovation and creativity to know what to do with it. Technological innovations themselves
require creative thought to get them going, otherwise how would we end up with Google,
Uber or Air BnB?

Another example lies in marketing; we have all kinds of “big data” available to make
narrowing down a market much more accurate than it was previously, yet even if you identify
a new market or segment, you’re going to have to be innovative about how you capture them.

Technology Can Help Nurture Creative Talent

Technology has expanded the boundaries of what’s possible with creative pursuits such as
movie-making, music and graphic design. This has provided more scope for creativity,
possibly even invited more participants to join in.

Look at YouTube videos or even content on Instagram – these are accessible platforms that
allow anyone to participate and create.
For professionals, look at examples such as CGI in movies or tools created to make graphic
design more accessible, the online platforms to promote that content. That accessibility runs
across the gamut of creative pursuits. Prior to the internet, the public may have only been
exposed to those deemed by “experts” to have creative prowess. With the internet, the
curtain is lifted and more people are discovered online every day. Artists like Bach and Van
Gogh were not famous in their own lifetimes, whereas if they were alive today, the chances
are they would be well-known.

Does this exposure help overall creativity? Well, it certainly helps to spark ideas in others
and to expose them to more avenues for mentoring, training and creative growth themselves.
As The Guardian puts it: “technology deserves some credit for lifting the institutional and
bureaucratic barriers that often limit creative talent.”

Technology Sparks Communication

This may sound like the opposite to what’s going on when everyone has their phones in front
of their faces, but technology is sparking communication in other ways. You can chat with
people across the world, share ideas and information and generate creative ideas. Online
knowledge has launched the creative careers of many – look at the freelance economy as
an example.
What’s The Answer?

You can safely have a healthy debate to argue both sides, so where does that leave us?
Technology is here to stay and only continues to advance, so perhaps one of the most
sensible arguments is for a balanced consumption of technology and information, much like
how we view our diets.
There is the thought that our primitive ancestors benefited from taking in as much
information as possible – it would have been necessary for survival to notice everything
about their surroundings. The difficulty now is that in an age of information overload, our
brains need to be trained to avoid the glut and filter only what is needed. This fits in with
what we know about needing to nurture the right environment for creativity.

David Ryan Polgar presents the idea of the “Mental Food Plate”, a kind of balanced diet for
the brain. Part of this concept involves being mindful about what you do consume and
exercising your “mental muscles.”

Final Thoughts

There are good arguments to be made for both sides of this debate. Yes, we’re seeing
evidence, such as lower creativity scores, which may point the finger at technology. We
know people are spending more time distracting themselves on electronic devices and
possibly inhibiting the creativity, which can come from boredom and letting thoughts wander.

On the other hand, technology has allowed developments in all kinds of creative pursuits
that have pushed boundaries from where they were before. It has also made many forms of
creativity and the knowledge needed to pursue them more accessible than it was for
previous generations.

It’s currently a debate that is in need of further studies, but one thing most can agree on is
the need for balance. If you want to nurture your creativity, you need to look at how you
balance the impacts of technology and information with the mental space needed to create.
Article Analysis

According to the article, “Is Technology Limiting Creativity”, the writer, Katie states that
nowadays people will have a smartphone in their hands and not approaching strangers to
have conversation in a bus or in the public. Katie argues that our reliance on technology has
killed the creativity inside of us. During her childhood, TV and computer games has brought
the downfall of imaginations everywhere. Yet, human beings are still creating new products.
Words such as killed, extinguishing, impulses and downfall shows bias language through
which her concern towards technology these days is transmitted as she aims to readers that
depends on technology devices in the daily life to distract their minds and keeping
themselves entertained has impact on the creativity of a person’s mind.

Katie begins her argument with a statement where people are sacrificing original thought for
keeping themselves constantly entertained. She also states that if we can find everything
online somewhere, we don’t give ourselves room to problem-solve and innovate on our own.
She has referred to Aldous Huxley writing of Brave New World back in 1932 where he
suggested a future in which humans sated a constant desire for distraction through
technology. However, there are people who agree that technology is enchancing our
creativity. In the article, Katie discussed both sides of the argument.

The first side of the argument in the article explains that technology is killing creativity. It is
being argued that technology is killing creativity as it promotes plagiarism and lack of
originality into a norm. According to Katie, everything can be accessed online such as
academic information and all sorts of templates and guidelines that leads to piracy and
plagiarism. This can be supported by an article about the disappearance of creativity in web
design and development written by Smashing Magazine regarding web design inhibiting
creative design. This undeniably proves that technology eliminates creativity and imagination
in an individual as they are not required to put extra effort in creating something outside the
box due to the fact that every single guidelines and examples are available online.

Besides that, the second argument in the article explains that technology is killing our
content. It is being accused that technology has led to less face-to-face communication.
According to The Guardian, technology kills creativity by promoting lazy communication such
as the excessive usage of emoticons and internet lingos to express genuine feelings. It is
beyond doubt that this worsens our ability to express what we truly feel and socialize directly
with other people.
Moreover, it can also be proven that technology kills creativity by the declining of creativity
scores due to the fact that kids now spend hours in front of the TV and playing video games
rather than engaging in creative activities. As a result, kids will experience decreased in idea
fluency and originality along with elaboration. They are also struggling with abstractness of
titles such as not knowing what's important and they resist open-mindedness.

However, there are people who believe that technology is enhancing the creativity. She
stated that information does not end creativity. She mentioned that even with all the data we
have available and the content already out there, we still need innovation and creativity to
know what to do with it. Technological innovations themselves require creative thought to get
people going with browsers and applications such as Google, Uber and AirBnB.

Furthermore, many kinds of “big data” exists in marketing nowadays. There are available to
focus down a market much more detailed than it was before to pinpoint a new market or
segment. To capture the targeted audience, we need to be innovative while using the
technology.

Moreover, the writer articulate that technology can help nurture creative talent. With the
expansion of technology, there are no limitations for people to be creative in doing
something new such as producing a movie or music, graphic design. This has opened up
new possibilities for people to be creative without an excuse. Online platforms such as
Youtube and Instagram can be tools for gaining new knowledge for anyone to engage and
initiate. The writer claims that the Internet has opened up new things for people to discover
and learn online every day. More avenues for mentoring, training and creative growth when
the exposure has help created new ideas in people. The writer makes a reference to The
Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/media-network/2015/jun/18/technology-creative-
creativity-web-content to support the argument whereby “technology deserves some credit
for lifting the institutional and bureaucratic barriers that often limit creative talent.”

Other than that. Katie believes that technology sparks communication when we can
communicate with people around the world to share ideas and information. Not just that, we
can also generate creative ideas via online communication.

To summarize, it is possible to destroy what we created but it is also inevitable that

technology is here to stay and only continues to advance. However, with respect to design
thinking and creativity, it is fundamental for us to elevate our awareness of how, when, and
to what end we are using technology and to be mindful of its advantages and limitations.
Similar to viewing our diets, it is human nature to seek pleasure and to avoid pain, and so it
is no wonder that we embrace technology’s handy access to everything. Therefore, a
balanced consumption of technology and information is crucial in order to discover solutions
at a broad and varied level that can still lead to new stimuli and experience and not kill our
creativity. Despite being said that technology undeniably kills creativity, we must not forget
that technology also has encouraged developments in various forms of creative pursuits that
have pushed boundaries from where they were before. However, if we relied solely on
technology, we would miss out on chances to create and maintain new meaningful
connections in the future as we still strive for human interaction to purely live a meaningful
life. Therefore, we need to take balancing the impacts of technology and information with the
mental space needed to create seriously because technology has its limits, and that is where
the human touch has to take over.