Has Technology Killed Creativity?

I keep hearing this argument over and again every time someone starts mentioning how technology has made our lives lazier and unfocused. But is that really the case? Has technology really killed creativity? Let’s explore.

Creativity by definition is “the use of the imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic work”. Now the last part of the definition, “artistic work” is a pretty vague term as it can mean anything from oil paintings to digital sculptures created in Minecraft by some 13 year old. In my opinion, the whole argument that technology has killed creativity is invalid because technology has not changed anything that would make people less creative. Instead it has given more outlets and platforms for new types of artistic work to be presented. People now have an option to express their art via digital artwork, 3D Modeling, YouTube videos or one of many new formats of art that technology has enabled.

The world is constantly changing, and so is our definition of art. Art back in caveman days meant carving the walls with stick figures, and 100 years ago it probably meant an oil painting on the wall. Even though our world has changed and the tools used for creation of art has changed, the art of making art has not really changed a whole lot. The rise of content creation tools with the invention of internet has enabled artists to create new types of content and collaborate with other artists in ways that has never been possible before.

Although we should be aware of the impacts of technology on people’s attention span and how it re-wires our brains and changes the fabric of society, we should not be worried that people are getting less creative because of it. While it has been known that scarcity fosters creativity and the abundance of information and other resources freely available in today’s technological world contradicts that, the pros outweigh the cons in this case. To conclude, no, technology has not killed creativity. Stay creative, my friends!