# data[].attributes.body
3-dimensional world.” With these first hand engagement, it maximizes their learning and brain development. However, with screens being a distractor, it takes away from their creativity and more kids playing less than the previous generation.

# data[].attributes.body
Play is a remarkably creative process that fosters emotional health, imagination, original thinking, problem solving, critical thinking, and self-regulation. As children actively invent their own scenarios in play, they work their way through the challenges life presents and gain confidence and a sense of mastery. When they play with materials, children are building a foundation for understanding concepts and skills that form the basis for later academic learning.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The technology revolution has sparked a new debate about just how much parents should allow their young children to play with iPads, iPhones and other devices. Here's a smart look at the issue by early childhood development expert Nancy Carlsson-Paige, a professor emerita of education at Lesley University in Cambridge, Ma., when she won the Embracing the Legacy Award from the Robert F. Kennedy Children's Action Corps for work over several decades on behalf of children and families. Carlsson-Paige is author of " Taking Back Childhood" and the mother of two artist sons, Matt and Kyle Damon.

By Nancy Carlsson-Paige

My 4-year-old grandson Jake who lives in Guatemala recently called my husband in his office on Skype. No one seems to know how Jake managed to get onto the computer and make the call. And, as I sat talking to a friend, her 3-year old somehow found her iPhone and found his way to a video of Cat in the Hat.

There has not been time to reflect on how this cascading influx of technology is affecting us all or to study the potentially far ranging influence it is having on our children. While electronic games for young children are flooding the market (72 percent of iTunes' top-selling "education" apps are designed for preschoolers and elementary school children), the research on their impact is scant.

A great many adults these days tell me how impressed they are with their young kids' facility with technology or with what they think the kids are learning as they interact with screens. But let's back up a little, think about what we know about how children grow and learn, and consider this pervasive new influence through that lens.

Starting with What We Know

We have many decades of theory and research in child development that tell us so much about how young children learn. We know that, like children all over the world and throughout time, children need to play. We know that learning in the early years is active - that kids learn through direct play and hands-on experiences with people, with materials, and in nature.

Kids need first-hand engagement - they need to manipulate objects physically, engage all their senses, and move and interact with the 3-dimensional world. This is what maximizes their learning and brain development. A lot of the time children spend with screens takes time away from the activities we know they need for optimal growth. We know that children today are playing less than kids played in the past.

Researchers who have tracked children's creativity for 50 years are seeing a significant decrease in creativity among children for the first time, especially younger children from kindergarten through sixth grade. This decline in creativity is thought to be due at least in part to the decline of play.

The Importance of Play

Play is a remarkably creative process that fosters emotional health, imagination, original thinking, problem solving, critical thinking, and self-regulation. As children actively invent their own scenarios in play, they work their way through the challenges life presents and gain confidence and a sense of mastery. When they play with materials, children are building a foundation for understanding concepts and skills that form the basis for later academic learning.

And it's not only concepts that children are learning as they play, they are learning how to learn: to take initiative, to ask questions, to create and solve their own problems. Open-ended materials such as blocks, play dough, art and building materials, sand and water encourage children to play creatively and in depth. Neuroscience tells us that as children play this way, connections and pathways in the brain become activated and then solidify.

Technology, Play, and Learning

What children see or interact with on the screen is only a representation of things in the real world. The screen symbols aren't able to provide as full an experience for kids as the interactions they can have with real world people and things. And while playing games with apps and computers could be considered more active than TV viewing, it is still limited to what happens between the child and a device - it doesn't involve the whole child's body, brain, and senses. In addition, the activity itself and how to do it is already prescribed by a programmer. What the child does is play according to someone elseâ€™s rules and design. This is profoundly different from a child having an original idea to make or do something.

For example, my granddaughter Isabella decided recently to make a house at a city park for a little caterpiller she found there. She spent over an hour finding building materials (sand, sticks, leaves) and creating the tiny house. To make the house in the first place was Isabella's idea - her invention. How to make it, the materials to use, the design, the process were all up to her. With an interactive screen game, the deeper, more creative aspects of an activity such as these are not within the child's control.

Many of the companies that market electronic products for young children make claims that these things are educational. While the research on the impact of apps on learning is meager and mixed, I can imagine studies might show that children can learn specific facts or skills by playing interactive games - such as how to count to 10. But parents should not be fooled into thinking this kind of learning is significant or foundational. Games and apps encourage kids to hit icons that lead to right (or wrong) answers. This promotes a kind of rote learning, but it is superficial. For example, a child could get right answers on simple addition problems: 3 + 2 = 5 and 2 + 4 = 6 by repeatedly playing an electronic math game, but still not grasp the underlying concepts of number.

How Might Time on Screens Affect Relationships?

Quite a few years ago, I began noticing how easy it was for parents to turn to screens in challenging moments with their children. This first hit me when I saw a little girl who was in tears over saying goodbye to her good friend and her mom offered her a TV program to watch. Now today, there are almost endless opportunities to quiet our kids with entertaining games, apps, and screen time. But when we do that, are they missing out on the chance to feel, to argue, to sit in silence, to listen, to be?

Screens can occupy, distract, and entertain children for sure; the appealing game or show really "works" in the short term. But harmful habits set in early on both sides: for the child, learning to look outside of oneself for happiness or distraction in tough times; for parents, learning to rely on screens instead of our own ingenuity to soothe and occupy kids.

I thought about how using screens could easily bypass kids' chances for building emotional and social competence a few years ago when embarking on a family trip. My husband Doug and I were taking our grandsons Jackson and Miles away for the weekend for the first time. We were all packed up and ready to go when Miles's eyes (he was five years old then) began to fill with tears.

"I have to say goodbye to Mama," he said, struggling. I could see the powerful sadness sweeping over Miles now that the concrete reality of our leaving was upon him. I gently rubbed Miles' chest (I felt so badly for him) and said, "When we go away from Mama, we have sad feelings." I wanted to acknowledge the feelings he was having, but I wanted to help him too. "But you know what? We're going to New York, we'll sleep one night, then we come back the next day and Mama will be right here waiting for you!"

Then we got two photos of their family for each boy to carry with him on the trip. Miles was reassured. I knew that if he got through this, he was going to have a big accomplishment in his repertoire that would help him deal with other emotional transitions he'd have to make in the future.

What if when Miles had started to cry, I had handed him a phone app to play with to distract him from his sadness, or offered a Dora the Explorer episode to watch on my computer to cheer him up? It's so easy to reach for this solution and it's a sure success. But is it interfering with our longer term goals of helping our kids develop inner resilience and social skills? I've become concerned that many children today are learning to cope with their feelings and relationships by distraction, and that screens of all kinds have become easy substitutes for the inner life experiences and personal interactions children need to have.

What Guidance Can We Find?

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity recommend keeping children under the age of two as screen-free as possible and limiting screen time for older children. I think this is a standard we should aim for. And as we try to limit screen time, we can do a lot to foster our children's play as well. Children need uninterrupted playtime every day. The chance to play with materials that are open-ended will encourage the deepest, most creative and expanded play possible.

We can avoid buying electronic toys, games and apps as much as possible. If a child is playing with an electronic game, we can try to introduce a more open-ended material. such as blocks. I did this the other day with Evan, a 3 year old who was visiting us. It was hard to get him away from his mom's computer, but when I pulled out some construcion toys, Evan jumped at the chance to start building.

When our kids are involved with any toy or material, we can ask ourselves, "What is the potential of this activity for fostering imaginative play and creative problem solving? Is there a more beneficial, more fully engaging, direct experience available for my child right now?"

Not long ago, a parent asked me if I thought the computer game called Concentration was good for her 4-year-old daughter to play. "Well," I answered, "I think the question is, could your daughter have a richer, fuller experience if she were playing the actual game of Concentration - if she were manipulating the picture cards, matching them, lining them up and sorting them, playing the game with another person instead of alone?"

Finally, as we try to make wise choices in using technology, we can ask ourselves: When and why do I choose to use screens with children? We can remember that our kids grow socially and emotionally by interacting with us and through direct experiences with others, and make sure we aren't bypassing important everyday social and emotional "lessons" by how we use screens.

The fact that parents today have the option of so much technology can seem like both a gift and a curse. At certain times and in certain situations, when no other choice seems right, we can breathe a sigh of relief that we have a screen activity available to us. But at other times, we can agonize because our kids are begging for screen time and we want to see them engage in more beneficial activities. Trying to follow the AAP Guidelines is often challenging and takes a lot more effort than the "quick tech fix." But remembering what we know about how kids learn and grow helps to guide us. And our own ingenuity and inventiveness as parents is the best and sometimes most untapped resource of all.

-0-

Follow The Answer Sheet every day by bookmarking www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet .

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The technology revolution has sparked a new debate about just how much parents should allow their young children to play with iPads, iPhones and other devices. Here's a smart look at the issue by early childhood development expert Nancy Carlsson-Paige, a professor emerita of education at Lesley University in Cambridge, Ma., when she won the Embracing the Legacy Award from the Robert F.

# data[].attributes.body
A great many adults these days tell me how impressed they are with their young kids’ facility with technology or with what they think the kids are learning as they interact with screens. But let’s back up a little, think about what we know about how children grow and learn, and consider this pervasive new influence through that lens.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The technology revolution has sparked a new debate about just how much parents should allow their young children to play with iPads, iPhones and other devices. Here's a smart look at the issue by early childhood development expert Nancy Carlsson-Paige, a professor emerita of education at Lesley University in Cambridge, Ma., when she won the Embracing the Legacy Award from the Robert F. Kennedy Children's Action Corps for work over several decades on behalf of children and families. Carlsson-Paige is author of " Taking Back Childhood" and the mother of two artist sons, Matt and Kyle Damon.

By Nancy Carlsson-Paige

My 4-year-old grandson Jake who lives in Guatemala recently called my husband in his office on Skype. No one seems to know how Jake managed to get onto the computer and make the call. And, as I sat talking to a friend, her 3-year old somehow found her iPhone and found his way to a video of Cat in the Hat.

There has not been time to reflect on how this cascading influx of technology is affecting us all or to study the potentially far ranging influence it is having on our children. While electronic games for young children are flooding the market (72 percent of iTunes' top-selling "education" apps are designed for preschoolers and elementary school children), the research on their impact is scant.

A great many adults these days tell me how impressed they are with their young kids' facility with technology or with what they think the kids are learning as they interact with screens. But let's back up a little, think about what we know about how children grow and learn, and consider this pervasive new influence through that lens.

Starting with What We Know

We have many decades of theory and research in child development that tell us so much about how young children learn. We know that, like children all over the world and throughout time, children need to play. We know that learning in the early years is active - that kids learn through direct play and hands-on experiences with people, with materials, and in nature.

Kids need first-hand engagement - they need to manipulate objects physically, engage all their senses, and move and interact with the 3-dimensional world. This is what maximizes their learning and brain development. A lot of the time children spend with screens takes time away from the activities we know they need for optimal growth. We know that children today are playing less than kids played in the past.

Researchers who have tracked children's creativity for 50 years are seeing a significant decrease in creativity among children for the first time, especially younger children from kindergarten through sixth grade. This decline in creativity is thought to be due at least in part to the decline of play.

The Importance of Play

Play is a remarkably creative process that fosters emotional health, imagination, original thinking, problem solving, critical thinking, and self-regulation. As children actively invent their own scenarios in play, they work their way through the challenges life presents and gain confidence and a sense of mastery. When they play with materials, children are building a foundation for understanding concepts and skills that form the basis for later academic learning.

And it's not only concepts that children are learning as they play, they are learning how to learn: to take initiative, to ask questions, to create and solve their own problems. Open-ended materials such as blocks, play dough, art and building materials, sand and water encourage children to play creatively and in depth. Neuroscience tells us that as children play this way, connections and pathways in the brain become activated and then solidify.

Technology, Play, and Learning

What children see or interact with on the screen is only a representation of things in the real world. The screen symbols aren't able to provide as full an experience for kids as the interactions they can have with real world people and things. And while playing games with apps and computers could be considered more active than TV viewing, it is still limited to what happens between the child and a device - it doesn't involve the whole child's body, brain, and senses. In addition, the activity itself and how to do it is already prescribed by a programmer. What the child does is play according to someone elseâ€™s rules and design. This is profoundly different from a child having an original idea to make or do something.

For example, my granddaughter Isabella decided recently to make a house at a city park for a little caterpiller she found there. She spent over an hour finding building materials (sand, sticks, leaves) and creating the tiny house. To make the house in the first place was Isabella's idea - her invention. How to make it, the materials to use, the design, the process were all up to her. With an interactive screen game, the deeper, more creative aspects of an activity such as these are not within the child's control.

Many of the companies that market electronic products for young children make claims that these things are educational. While the research on the impact of apps on learning is meager and mixed, I can imagine studies might show that children can learn specific facts or skills by playing interactive games - such as how to count to 10. But parents should not be fooled into thinking this kind of learning is significant or foundational. Games and apps encourage kids to hit icons that lead to right (or wrong) answers. This promotes a kind of rote learning, but it is superficial. For example, a child could get right answers on simple addition problems: 3 + 2 = 5 and 2 + 4 = 6 by repeatedly playing an electronic math game, but still not grasp the underlying concepts of number.

How Might Time on Screens Affect Relationships?

Quite a few years ago, I began noticing how easy it was for parents to turn to screens in challenging moments with their children. This first hit me when I saw a little girl who was in tears over saying goodbye to her good friend and her mom offered her a TV program to watch. Now today, there are almost endless opportunities to quiet our kids with entertaining games, apps, and screen time. But when we do that, are they missing out on the chance to feel, to argue, to sit in silence, to listen, to be?

Screens can occupy, distract, and entertain children for sure; the appealing game or show really "works" in the short term. But harmful habits set in early on both sides: for the child, learning to look outside of oneself for happiness or distraction in tough times; for parents, learning to rely on screens instead of our own ingenuity to soothe and occupy kids.

I thought about how using screens could easily bypass kids' chances for building emotional and social competence a few years ago when embarking on a family trip. My husband Doug and I were taking our grandsons Jackson and Miles away for the weekend for the first time. We were all packed up and ready to go when Miles's eyes (he was five years old then) began to fill with tears.

"I have to say goodbye to Mama," he said, struggling. I could see the powerful sadness sweeping over Miles now that the concrete reality of our leaving was upon him. I gently rubbed Miles' chest (I felt so badly for him) and said, "When we go away from Mama, we have sad feelings." I wanted to acknowledge the feelings he was having, but I wanted to help him too. "But you know what? We're going to New York, we'll sleep one night, then we come back the next day and Mama will be right here waiting for you!"

Then we got two photos of their family for each boy to carry with him on the trip. Miles was reassured. I knew that if he got through this, he was going to have a big accomplishment in his repertoire that would help him deal with other emotional transitions he'd have to make in the future.

What if when Miles had started to cry, I had handed him a phone app to play with to distract him from his sadness, or offered a Dora the Explorer episode to watch on my computer to cheer him up? It's so easy to reach for this solution and it's a sure success. But is it interfering with our longer term goals of helping our kids develop inner resilience and social skills? I've become concerned that many children today are learning to cope with their feelings and relationships by distraction, and that screens of all kinds have become easy substitutes for the inner life experiences and personal interactions children need to have.

What Guidance Can We Find?

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity recommend keeping children under the age of two as screen-free as possible and limiting screen time for older children. I think this is a standard we should aim for. And as we try to limit screen time, we can do a lot to foster our children's play as well. Children need uninterrupted playtime every day. The chance to play with materials that are open-ended will encourage the deepest, most creative and expanded play possible.

We can avoid buying electronic toys, games and apps as much as possible. If a child is playing with an electronic game, we can try to introduce a more open-ended material. such as blocks. I did this the other day with Evan, a 3 year old who was visiting us. It was hard to get him away from his mom's computer, but when I pulled out some construcion toys, Evan jumped at the chance to start building.

When our kids are involved with any toy or material, we can ask ourselves, "What is the potential of this activity for fostering imaginative play and creative problem solving? Is there a more beneficial, more fully engaging, direct experience available for my child right now?"

Not long ago, a parent asked me if I thought the computer game called Concentration was good for her 4-year-old daughter to play. "Well," I answered, "I think the question is, could your daughter have a richer, fuller experience if she were playing the actual game of Concentration - if she were manipulating the picture cards, matching them, lining them up and sorting them, playing the game with another person instead of alone?"

Finally, as we try to make wise choices in using technology, we can ask ourselves: When and why do I choose to use screens with children? We can remember that our kids grow socially and emotionally by interacting with us and through direct experiences with others, and make sure we aren't bypassing important everyday social and emotional "lessons" by how we use screens.

The fact that parents today have the option of so much technology can seem like both a gift and a curse. At certain times and in certain situations, when no other choice seems right, we can breathe a sigh of relief that we have a screen activity available to us. But at other times, we can agonize because our kids are begging for screen time and we want to see them engage in more beneficial activities. Trying to follow the AAP Guidelines is often challenging and takes a lot more effort than the "quick tech fix." But remembering what we know about how kids learn and grow helps to guide us. And our own ingenuity and inventiveness as parents is the best and sometimes most untapped resource of all.

-0-

Follow The Answer Sheet every day by bookmarking www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet .

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The technology revolution has sparked a new debate about just how much parents should allow their young children to play with iPads, iPhones and other devices. Here's a smart look at the issue by early childhood development expert Nancy Carlsson-Paige, a professor emerita of education at Lesley University in Cambridge, Ma., when she won the Embracing the Legacy Award from the Robert F.

# data[].attributes.headline
Pro 1: Technology can bring classroom excitement

# data[].attributes.subject
Pro 1: Technology can bring classroom excitement

# data[].attributes.body
In today’s digital world, students are getting excited about using technological devices like laptops, tablets, smartphones and other similar devices.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Technology has become part of our daily lives. It is being applied in the education sector to effectively increase teacher-student learning. It will be both beneficial and also problematic for students in a learning environment.

Pros:

Technology can bring classroom excitement: In today's digital world, students are getting excited about using technological devices like laptops, tablets, smartphones and other similar devices.

7. Technology gives students more opportunities to learn at their own pace.

8. With exposure to technology while at school, students will be less intimidated by technology in the future and will be more prepared to handle technological issues in their career.

9. Using technology in conjunction with the lesson being taught increases student's teacher engagement and promote more understanding to the student.

10. It allows students to get more information, find answers or even get more questions from teachers to work on without leaving their desks.

Cons:

6. It poses a health risk. If students stay on a computer screen a long time, it will affect their eyesight and it can be hard for their brain to relax and unwind.

7. Encourages laziness. Since technology gives them a lot of information by the click of an icon, students may not feel a need to go the extra mile in doing traditional research using textbooks.

8. No equal access to technological resources. Some students may not have all the resources needed to facilitate learning thus the need to work in groups.

report this ad

9. Difficult to distinguish between reliable and unreliable sources from the internet.

10. Technology may not be utilized to its fullness in a classroom setup. Students only use technology for research and access to word processing software in class.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Pros and Cons of Using Technology in Education System - Pros an Cons

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Technology has become part of our daily lives. It is being applied in the education sector to effectively increase teacher-student learning. It will be both beneficial and also problematic for students in a learning environment. Pros: 1. Technology can bring classroom excitement: In today's digital world, students are getting excited about using technological devices like ...

# data[].attributes.headline
Pro 2:  Provides countless resources for education purpose

# data[].attributes.subject
Pro 2:  Provides countless resources for education purpose

# data[].attributes.body
Technology can make learning more fun and effective. Students can choose among the various resources and learning techniques depending on their learning interests.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Technology has become part of our daily lives. It is being applied in the education sector to effectively increase teacher-student learning. It will be both beneficial and also problematic for students in a learning environment.

Pros:

Technology can bring classroom excitement: In today's digital world, students are getting excited about using technological devices like laptops, tablets, smartphones and other similar devices.

7. Technology gives students more opportunities to learn at their own pace.

8. With exposure to technology while at school, students will be less intimidated by technology in the future and will be more prepared to handle technological issues in their career.

9. Using technology in conjunction with the lesson being taught increases student's teacher engagement and promote more understanding to the student.

10. It allows students to get more information, find answers or even get more questions from teachers to work on without leaving their desks.

Cons:

6. It poses a health risk. If students stay on a computer screen a long time, it will affect their eyesight and it can be hard for their brain to relax and unwind.

7. Encourages laziness. Since technology gives them a lot of information by the click of an icon, students may not feel a need to go the extra mile in doing traditional research using textbooks.

8. No equal access to technological resources. Some students may not have all the resources needed to facilitate learning thus the need to work in groups.

report this ad

9. Difficult to distinguish between reliable and unreliable sources from the internet.

10. Technology may not be utilized to its fullness in a classroom setup. Students only use technology for research and access to word processing software in class.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Pros and Cons of Using Technology in Education System - Pros an Cons

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Technology has become part of our daily lives. It is being applied in the education sector to effectively increase teacher-student learning. It will be both beneficial and also problematic for students in a learning environment. Pros: 1. Technology can bring classroom excitement: In today's digital world, students are getting excited about using technological devices like ...

# data[].attributes.body
Daydreaming boosts people creativity allowing they to have a better imagination therefore coming up with new ideas and starting something beneficial

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
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...
Photo credit: vator.tv
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.

Source: Connor Senior on Behance

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.

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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...

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Pro 4: Technology makes lazy communication

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Pro 4: Technology makes lazy communication

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Using technology you get lazy and don't care about your spelling and other things you learn in school then you will eventually forget that and you won't have content to do when your bored.

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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...
Photo credit: vator.tv
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.

Source: Connor Senior on Behance

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.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
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...

# data[].attributes.headline
Pro 6: Children brain develops  away from technology

# data[].attributes.subject
Pro 6: Children brain develops  away from technology

# data[].attributes.body
There has been decades of theory and research in child development that tells us how the brain works for a child and how much of an impact their primary years are. It is important for children to play and engage in the “real world" by being active. Kids learn to be creative through direct play and hands-on experience with materials, people, and in nature, “kids need first-hand engagement — they need to manipulate objects physically, engage all their senses, and move and interact with the 3-dimensional world.” With these first hand engagement, it maximizes their learning and brain development. However, with screens being a distractor, it takes away from their creativity and more kids playing less than the previous generation.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
It is more common to find people on their phones looking at social apps, playing games, or texting rather than communicating to others face to face. Today's generation find it difficult to talk to people because it can get "awkward" and it is easier to be on a device rather than a phone. As technology keeps advancing, will it cause people to be less creative? Technology is created to make situations easier, but have we gone to a point where we rely on technology too much that it actually hurts society rather than help.

In a recent article I read called "Is Technology Killing Creativity ", it states that "The predominance of technology and smartphones in particular has lead to many suggestions that creativity is being killed by our reliance on these tools ." Many people rely on these technologies daily, however technology has been present for a while now. In the 1990s, many people thought TV and computer games, will affect creativity, but people are still creating things.

In the Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, Huxley believed that there was going to be a future where technology is used by human for a constant desire of distraction. Every time we find ourselves bored, it is more easier to pull out a device than to innovate and find something else to do. In addition, it is easy to find anything online somewhere, "we don't give ourselves room to problem-solve and innovate on our own room." If a situation becomes to difficult, it is easier to search for answer online than trying to figure it out. Scientific study tells us that we need time to daydream as daydream boosts our creativity. If we use any downtime to just scroll through our phone, than creativity can be lost. reported on the findings of a recent study that indicated that while intelligence scores have steadily risen, creativity scores have been declining since 1990. This decline of creativity is thought to be in part to the decline in play.

There has been decades of theory and research in child development that tells us how the brain works for a child and how much of an impact their primary years are. It is important for children to play and engage in the " real world " by being active. Kids learn to be creative through direct play and hands-on experience with materials, people, and in nature, " kids need first-hand engagement - they need to manipulate objects physically, engage all their senses, and move and interact with the 3-dimensional world." With these first hand engagement, it maximizes their learning and brain development. However, with screens being a distractor, it takes away from their creativity and more kids playing less than the previous generation.

It is not mention often, but play has a huge role in imagination. "Play is a remarkably creative process that fosters emotional health, imagination, original thinking, problem solving, critical thinking, and self-regulation." Through playing, kids are able to create their own scenario, work through difficult times, built self confidence and feel a sense of mastery. If they play with materials, they are learning to understand concepts and skills that are the principles for later academic learning. By learning how to play, they are also learning how to learn such as asking question, creating and solving their own problems and taking initiative. Some examples of kids using materials to build creativity is using blocks, playdough, markers/colors, paint, sand and water. It is proven by neuroscientist that if children play this way, they are able to activate pathways and connection in their brain.

Although technology is beneficial and useful for kids, what children see and interact on the screen is not the same as the full experience for kids interacting in the real world with people and things. It may seem like these education app for children will assist their education, but it does not grasp the underlying concept of learning.

Here's a link to my hypothesis annotation.

Is Technology limiting Creativity Pt.1 by Christopher is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
It is more common to find people on their phones looking at social apps, playing games, or texting rather than communicating to others face to face. Today's generation find it difficult to talk to people because it can get "awkward" and it is easier to be on a device rather than a phone.

# data[].attributes.headline
Pro 5: Technology limits peoples social skills

# data[].attributes.subject
Pro 5: Technology limits peoples social skills

# data[].attributes.body
It is more common to find people on their phones looking at social apps, playing games, or texting rather than communicating to others face to face. Today’s generation find it difficult to talk to people because it can get “awkward” and it is easier to be on a device rather than a phone. As technology keeps advancing, will it cause people to be less creative? It hurts society rather then help.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
It is more common to find people on their phones looking at social apps, playing games, or texting rather than communicating to others face to face. Today's generation find it difficult to talk to people because it can get "awkward" and it is easier to be on a device rather than a phone. As technology keeps advancing, will it cause people to be less creative? Technology is created to make situations easier, but have we gone to a point where we rely on technology too much that it actually hurts society rather than help.

In a recent article I read called "Is Technology Killing Creativity ", it states that "The predominance of technology and smartphones in particular has lead to many suggestions that creativity is being killed by our reliance on these tools ." Many people rely on these technologies daily, however technology has been present for a while now. In the 1990s, many people thought TV and computer games, will affect creativity, but people are still creating things.

In the Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, Huxley believed that there was going to be a future where technology is used by human for a constant desire of distraction. Every time we find ourselves bored, it is more easier to pull out a device than to innovate and find something else to do. In addition, it is easy to find anything online somewhere, "we don't give ourselves room to problem-solve and innovate on our own room." If a situation becomes to difficult, it is easier to search for answer online than trying to figure it out. Scientific study tells us that we need time to daydream as daydream boosts our creativity. If we use any downtime to just scroll through our phone, than creativity can be lost. reported on the findings of a recent study that indicated that while intelligence scores have steadily risen, creativity scores have been declining since 1990. This decline of creativity is thought to be in part to the decline in play.

There has been decades of theory and research in child development that tells us how the brain works for a child and how much of an impact their primary years are. It is important for children to play and engage in the " real world " by being active. Kids learn to be creative through direct play and hands-on experience with materials, people, and in nature, " kids need first-hand engagement - they need to manipulate objects physically, engage all their senses, and move and interact with the 3-dimensional world." With these first hand engagement, it maximizes their learning and brain development. However, with screens being a distractor, it takes away from their creativity and more kids playing less than the previous generation.

It is not mention often, but play has a huge role in imagination. "Play is a remarkably creative process that fosters emotional health, imagination, original thinking, problem solving, critical thinking, and self-regulation." Through playing, kids are able to create their own scenario, work through difficult times, built self confidence and feel a sense of mastery. If they play with materials, they are learning to understand concepts and skills that are the principles for later academic learning. By learning how to play, they are also learning how to learn such as asking question, creating and solving their own problems and taking initiative. Some examples of kids using materials to build creativity is using blocks, playdough, markers/colors, paint, sand and water. It is proven by neuroscientist that if children play this way, they are able to activate pathways and connection in their brain.

Although technology is beneficial and useful for kids, what children see and interact on the screen is not the same as the full experience for kids interacting in the real world with people and things. It may seem like these education app for children will assist their education, but it does not grasp the underlying concept of learning.

Here's a link to my hypothesis annotation.

Is Technology limiting Creativity Pt.1 by Christopher is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
It is more common to find people on their phones looking at social apps, playing games, or texting rather than communicating to others face to face. Today's generation find it difficult to talk to people because it can get "awkward" and it is easier to be on a device rather than a phone.

# data[].attributes.headline
Pro 7:  Where did all the daydream gone?

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Pro 7:  Where did all the daydream gone?

# data[].attributes.body
Kids may not think creativity matters much, especially if they don’t consider themselves artistic types. But creativity, is a life skill too, no matter what they wind up doing.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
If you ask a tween or teenager, we grownups always have complaints. Recently, we were even bellyaching about the annoying noise of kids endlessly flipping plastic water bottles, trying again and again to do it just so to get the bottle to land straight up on its bottom.

What we've forgotten is that for once they're not on their phones-the phones we're normally wringing our hands about. And, certainly, we should be concerned about too much screen time.

Consider, in addition to all our other worries about the effects of technology, that research shows that boredom leads to more creativity. Who can get bored with a device that offers worlds of music, games, instant answers, and endless connection to friends?

In other words, where have all the daydreams gone?

Kids may not think creativity matters much, especially if they don't consider themselves artistic types. But creativity is a life skill, too, no matter what they wind up doing.

"We need kids who will be able to think outside the box, to come up with novel ways of looking at problems," says Richard Rende, psychologist and co-author of Raising Can-Do Kids. Boredom makes the space for that. Rende says that when kids "get in the habit of finding ways to make their boredom go away, they will be training themselves in the critical-thinking, problem-solving, and innovation skills that they will need in the future."

What can parents do, then, to make room for this important sort of thinking to blossom? Of course, sometimes we just need to limit the technology usage. Our kids won't always like that. Rende cautions us to be understanding, though. "Rather than getting annoyed at kids, or chastising them for being bored since they have so much stuff these days to entertain them, simply treat it as a chance to encourage them to do something they don't typically do."

We can offer suggestions about offline activities, Rende says, but "the real thing is to foster these moments as chances for your kids to find their own thing to do."

Devorah Heitner, founder of Raising Digital Natives and author of Screenwise: Helping Kids Survive (And Thrive) in their Digital World, agrees that "we have to forcibly unplug them sometimes." Our job is much more complex than always saying no to screens, with all the effects of technology on everyday life. Heitner says our parenting role should be that of a mentor, not merely a gatekeeper. We need to help kids understand that not all screen time is created equal - some is for schoolwork, some is for social connection, some allows for creativity, and some is just relaxing fluff.

Instead of just imposing flat limits on the amount of screen time for tweens and teens, Heitner says we should look at what they're doing online, and "at creativity versus consumption because 'screen time' is kind of a meaningless term these days."

Kids can be creative in front of a screen-it's not just passive entertainment. Those creative pursuits may include making videos, composing music, building their own games, and even writing fan fiction.

"Sometimes we are snobs if our kid isn't writing a play in iambic pentameter or composing classical music," says Heitner, "but that doesn't mean they're not being creative."

Creative online work can also build an online social community for like-minded tweens and teens. Instead of kids just consuming content from their favorite sites or YouTubers, encourage your child to be an active contributor, suggests Heitner. "The more your kid is a fan of a certain genre, the more you hope they're contributing back. Maybe your kid is a fan of Minecraft videos. Perhaps they should be making some Minecraft videos and teaching other people what they've learned."

That might not be what we had in mind, just like an hour of water-bottle-flipping might not be what we have in mind for our kids' offline time. But here's the thing about creativity-it's not supposed to be what we expect. It's supposed to be innovative, startling, stretching. Sometimes it's us parents that need to stretch a little, too.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
If you ask a tween or teenager, we grownups always have complaints. Recently, we were even bellyaching about the annoying noise of kids endlessly flipping plastic water bottles, trying again and again to do it just so to get the bottle to land straight up on its bottom.

# data[].attributes.body
Instead of just imposing flat limits on the amount of screen time for tweens and teens, Heitner says we should look at what they’re doing online, and “at creativity versus consumption because ‘screen time’ is kind of a meaningless term these days.”

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
If you ask a tween or teenager, we grownups always have complaints. Recently, we were even bellyaching about the annoying noise of kids endlessly flipping plastic water bottles, trying again and again to do it just so to get the bottle to land straight up on its bottom.

What we've forgotten is that for once they're not on their phones-the phones we're normally wringing our hands about. And, certainly, we should be concerned about too much screen time.

Consider, in addition to all our other worries about the effects of technology, that research shows that boredom leads to more creativity. Who can get bored with a device that offers worlds of music, games, instant answers, and endless connection to friends?

In other words, where have all the daydreams gone?

Kids may not think creativity matters much, especially if they don't consider themselves artistic types. But creativity is a life skill, too, no matter what they wind up doing.

"We need kids who will be able to think outside the box, to come up with novel ways of looking at problems," says Richard Rende, psychologist and co-author of Raising Can-Do Kids. Boredom makes the space for that. Rende says that when kids "get in the habit of finding ways to make their boredom go away, they will be training themselves in the critical-thinking, problem-solving, and innovation skills that they will need in the future."

What can parents do, then, to make room for this important sort of thinking to blossom? Of course, sometimes we just need to limit the technology usage. Our kids won't always like that. Rende cautions us to be understanding, though. "Rather than getting annoyed at kids, or chastising them for being bored since they have so much stuff these days to entertain them, simply treat it as a chance to encourage them to do something they don't typically do."

We can offer suggestions about offline activities, Rende says, but "the real thing is to foster these moments as chances for your kids to find their own thing to do."

Devorah Heitner, founder of Raising Digital Natives and author of Screenwise: Helping Kids Survive (And Thrive) in their Digital World, agrees that "we have to forcibly unplug them sometimes." Our job is much more complex than always saying no to screens, with all the effects of technology on everyday life. Heitner says our parenting role should be that of a mentor, not merely a gatekeeper. We need to help kids understand that not all screen time is created equal - some is for schoolwork, some is for social connection, some allows for creativity, and some is just relaxing fluff.

Instead of just imposing flat limits on the amount of screen time for tweens and teens, Heitner says we should look at what they're doing online, and "at creativity versus consumption because 'screen time' is kind of a meaningless term these days."

Kids can be creative in front of a screen-it's not just passive entertainment. Those creative pursuits may include making videos, composing music, building their own games, and even writing fan fiction.

"Sometimes we are snobs if our kid isn't writing a play in iambic pentameter or composing classical music," says Heitner, "but that doesn't mean they're not being creative."

Creative online work can also build an online social community for like-minded tweens and teens. Instead of kids just consuming content from their favorite sites or YouTubers, encourage your child to be an active contributor, suggests Heitner. "The more your kid is a fan of a certain genre, the more you hope they're contributing back. Maybe your kid is a fan of Minecraft videos. Perhaps they should be making some Minecraft videos and teaching other people what they've learned."

That might not be what we had in mind, just like an hour of water-bottle-flipping might not be what we have in mind for our kids' offline time. But here's the thing about creativity-it's not supposed to be what we expect. It's supposed to be innovative, startling, stretching. Sometimes it's us parents that need to stretch a little, too.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
If you ask a tween or teenager, we grownups always have complaints. Recently, we were even bellyaching about the annoying noise of kids endlessly flipping plastic water bottles, trying again and again to do it just so to get the bottle to land straight up on its bottom.