Technology Takeover

In the 21st century, the presence of technology is all too common. It is inescapable at times.

We have evolved from carrying a device that simply allows us to call one another to toting mini computers wherever we go. Often enough we see people walking with their eyes glued to a screen instead of paying attention to their surroundings. The advancements in technology are amazing, but frighteningly distracting.

Professor James Bowey, BA, Marquette University and professor of Mass Communication: Photography & Digital Imaging says, “Technology provides us with this wonderful tool, but it absorbs our focus and our concentration in a way that takes away from the time we might offer to the creative inspirations that make new connections.” Through our attachment to our phones, tablets, and computers we are neglecting our creative processes. We are creative by nature, and our minds crave that creative output. It is just a matter of putting down the technology and picking up a pencil.

Bowey says, “We create in a two step process:”

1. “Gather information, which becomes the data of our life experiences”

2. “Allow the subconscious to put those connections together in new ways”

Technology does not work in this two-step process, it also does not have the ability to gather specific, meaningful data; therefore, “Technology can’t create the same connections human beings can.” Yes, Technology is a wonderfully helpful tool, but if we are to reconnect with our own creativity, we have to think of technology in different terms. Bowey says, “As far as creativity is concerned, technology becomes an opportunity lost.” Bowey also encourages everyone to, “Think of technology as space. We only have so much mental space, and we need to decide how we are going to fill that space. We continue to crowd that space with technology.”

In her book, The Creative Habit, Twyla Tharp lists four distractions to eliminate from your life for a week to enable creativity:

1. Movies: Movies can be addicting. Once you start watching movies, it’s tempting to continue watching all day and never get anything done.

2. Multitasking: “The irony of multitasking is that it’s exhausting; when you’re doing two or three things simultaneously, you use more energy than the sum of energy required to do each task independently. You’re also cheating yourself because you aren’t doing anything excellently.”

3. Numbers: “Clocks, dials, meters, bathroom scales, bills, contracts, etc. The goal is to give the left side of the brain – the hemisphere that does the counting – a rest and let the more intuitive right hemisphere come to the fore.”

4. Background Music: “Music in the background nibbles at your awareness.”

Tharp does not recommend living without distractions permanently, but she does suggest living without these distractions for a week to see the payoffs.

“The act of giving something up does not merely clear time and mental space to focus you. It’s a ritual, too, an offering where you sacrifice a portion of your life to the metaphoric gods of creation,” says Tharp.

For our generation and generations that follow, technology seems to be one of those entities that has just always been there. We forget, or are simply unaware, that creative processes were much more organic than those found in today’s world. Think about brainstorming without the Internet. Now, we rely on what has already been produced by others. “If we continue to overuse technology, we dilute the essential human genius. The essential human genius is our ability to see things as more than they are,” says Bowey.

So how do we make a conscious effort to connect with the world? The answer lies within “conscious effort.” Do things that allow you to escape from being tuned in. Those activities are unique to the individual, so they vary: cooking, walking, jogging, drawing, writing, painting, etc. Bowey says it is important to, “Create opportunities in your life that allow your subconscious mind to take over… something that allows your mind to wander.”

Drew Barrymore’s book of photographs, Find It in Everything, consists of heart-shaped objects and patterns she has discovered over the past ten years.

“I love this shape so much that I started seeing it everywhere,” Barrymore says.

It is amazing what you will find once you open your eyes and look a little deeper, past the surface.