This article or video is hitting some key notes concerning the relationship between technology or the digital world and creativity and productivity.
My experience with the digital world is that it is saturated with informercial and social sites with very little to no room for creative development and growth. People that I know stay on Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and Youtube for hours simply consuming, gossiping or shooting the breeze. For some, the net is nothing other than a huge virtual hook-up spot.
Certainly nothing wrong with any of the things mentioned above but I kind of made up my mind that the digital world isn't the place for me to be when I need to create or produce work.
"Prosumer", as Mr. Anderson explains in the video as the marriage between professional and consumer level technology converging to make it easier and cheaper for anyone to use digital media to produce professional result, is very appealing to me. As someone interested in the Arts (performing and creative writing) and Education, the efficiency of what I do is almost entirely based and measured on how well I'm able to connect with others. The digital world, because of its newness and accessibility certainly facilitates connections and interactions.
But what about the nature of these 'connections' and 'interactions'? I still believe that the most sophisticated and fascinating form of connections and interactions are humans'. I guess my fear with the digital world's expansion and integration in our daily lives, is how much of our humanity (and humanity) is liable to get lost in the blogosphere. How much of this young generation's adolescence is spent in front of a computer screen? How little spouses know of each other? How great the disdtance bewteen parents and children? And with online courses and education on the verge of being fully digitized, what about social growth, diversity, and peer mentoring?
I'm not anti the internet or think it the end of civilization but I just fear that so many kids are already so far lost in all of it, that there might be anyone around for them to go to
I always complain to my friends when they rather text than make a phone call... I call they do not pick up their cell phones, but if I immediately text right after they respond within a few seconds... I feel as if the interactions between humans are becoming limited and that emotions and gestures and expressions are diminished through the interface of "text".
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