Attention Span and Creativity
Introduction
The definition of creativity varies between researchers; however, one fact is agreed upon, creativity is difficult to define. J.P. Guilford, a psychologist in the 1960’s, as well as other psychologists during this time period, tended to see “creativity exclusively as a mental process” (Guilford, 1971) Robert Sternberg insisted creativity overlaps with intelligence, cognitive style, and personality/ motivation. The intellectual dimension of creativity deals with problem finding and problem definition (Sternberg, 2001). Margaret Boden defined creativity as producing something that is novel or different. She also said In order for this new idea to be interesting, it needs to be intelligible (Boden 1994). Andrew Court offered another definition stating that the ability if human intelligence helps individuals to use their imagination and produce original ideas and solutions (Court 1998). Although innovation has been higher than ever before, many believe that innovation and creativity has been dwindling down each generation. The main reasons behind this lack of creativity have been modern technology such as television, the internet, multimedia devices, shortened attention spans, and testing. Kids these days will usually defer to their phones or watch TV for instant gratification to satisfy their need of entertainment. A 2009 Nielsen survey reports that “children ages 12 to 15 (spend) nearly 25 hours a week watching television, the highest figure on record.” The survey goes on to show that this was added by seven weekly hours watching DVDs, playing video games, and watching time-shifted television (DVR, Tivo). As creativity is known to be a thought based process, spending this large amount of time watching television and playing video games only hampers creativity. If we’re never able to be alone with our thoughts and allow our thoughts to drift, full creative potential will never be realized.
In addition to this, technology allows us to multitask. In
The definition of creativity varies between researchers; however, one fact is agreed upon, creativity is difficult to define. J.P. Guilford, a psychologist in the 1960’s, as well as other psychologists during this time period, tended to see “creativity exclusively as a mental process” (Guilford, 1971) Robert Sternberg insisted creativity overlaps with intelligence, cognitive style, and personality/ motivation. The intellectual dimension of creativity deals with problem finding and problem definition (Sternberg, 2001). Margaret Boden defined creativity as producing something that is novel or different. She also said In order for this new idea to be interesting, it needs to be intelligible (Boden 1994). Andrew Court offered another definition stating that the ability if human intelligence helps individuals to use their imagination and produce original ideas and solutions (Court 1998). Although innovation has been higher than ever before, many believe that innovation and creativity has been dwindling down each generation. The main reasons behind this lack of creativity have been modern technology such as television, the internet, multimedia devices, shortened attention spans, and testing. Kids these days will usually defer to their phones or watch TV for instant gratification to satisfy their need of entertainment. A 2009 Nielsen survey reports that “children ages 12 to 15 (spend) nearly 25 hours a week watching television, the highest figure on record.” The survey goes on to show that this was added by seven weekly hours watching DVDs, playing video games, and watching time-shifted television (DVR, Tivo). As creativity is known to be a thought based process, spending this large amount of time watching television and playing video games only hampers creativity. If we’re never able to be alone with our thoughts and allow our thoughts to drift, full creative potential will never be realized.
In addition to this, technology allows us to multitask. In