Is AI Hurting Your Creativity?

Is AI hurting our creativity? I think the answer is a little more complicated than a yes or no. There have been small things in our modern-day society that has contributed to the weakening of true creativity. Let's dive in.

I was adopted when I was 11, just days before I turned 12. I was adopted by a farmer and his wife. We lived out in the country. I didn't get my first cell phone until I was about 17, almost 18.  I also obviously didn't have Facebook until I was almost 19 because as my oldest son likes to remind us, I was born in the 1900's.

I spent a lot of time building forts in the hay, clubhouses made of tree limbs and bailing twine, writing songs on the piano and guitar, writing poems, creating stories and creating worksheets for pretend school (my sisters hated this, of course). I had nothing pulling at my attention and I had no one to compare my own creativity to.

Technology Increases Comparison that Hinders Creativity

Have you heard the term "Create more than you consume"? How often do you, as a creator, pay attention to this? I'll be the first to say that I'm scrolling more than I create. My screen time reflects this truth. When we spend too much time on our phone, our own originality is impacted.

I've noticed that we start allowing our creativity to mirror others' because we haven't given ourselves the time to let creativity to flow from our boredom. In other words, we become copy-cats feeding off each other's ideas instead of thriving in our own innovation. I told my husband that this might be why there seems to be fewer new movies out nowadays. Movie theaters are flooded with either the remake of an old movie or old ideas from previous creators. Maybe we need another Renaissance.

Technology Has Decreased Our Time to Create

Technology has sped up the process of everything. Cooking takes less time because we have air fryers, freezer meals and food delivery. Technology has also somehow filled up our time. Facebook events and social media posts make us feel FOMO (fear of missing out) so we are constantly going out to avoid this feeling.

Because we feel the pressure to fill our day with so many things, we view creativity as the lesser of priorities. When we do create, we want the satisfaction of having it completed quickly. Social media scrolling has decreased our attention span and we've almost become like toddlers who need the dopamine release right now. Creating something worthwhile often takes time. Some paintings take days. Books can take months or even years. Building furniture takes time. Because these aren't things where we will experience the reward of completion right away, we tend to put it off.

I want to encourage you to fight this desire to be a production machine who needs to be seen everywhere at all times. Replace your "dopamine hit" you get from scrolling Instagram or going out constantly with spending time either at home or with other creators making something that could take you days, months or years to finish. When you stop and slow down to create, you actually help your dopamine levels by creating a sustainable release rather than a quick spike like you may experience when scrolling Instagram or TikTok or even using Chat GPT to finish your homework for you.

Dopamine Nation by Anna Lemke is a great book that talks about the neuroscience behind addiction, pleasure and overconsumption. I would highly encourage you to read it.

Technology Has Dulled Our Thinking and Creativity

Why should we spend the time processing what a book means when we can just Chat GPT it? Why should I take the time to create a graphic for my business when I can just enter a prompt into AI? Why should I think of a caption when AI can give me 100 captions in 10 seconds?

I'll tell you why. Because it hinders your own ability to process an intelligent thought. If we are entering everything into AI to figure out for us, our thought processing weakens. I have actually experienced this in my own life. I started undercharging in my own business, so I was stretched very thin. Because I was stretched thin, I utilized AI for a lot of my captions and post ideas. My creativity for clients declined and I stopped posting altogether for myself. I felt like I was in a creative rut. I could barely formulate a sentence without needing help because I was spread so thin and was used to relying on Chat GPT.

I stopped scrolling for ideas and I stopped asking Chat GPT for captions and business ideas. Once I did this, my own creativity had space to be original. My thoughts became clearer and I felt like a creative once again.

Chat GPT is really just pulling from things that have already been created or thought of. If you're looking to be a copy-cat of everyone else, it works. But if you really crave originaility, I would highly encourage you to take a break from it for a couple months and see how it impacts your own thinking.

If you're a creative entrepreneur like me, I want to encourage you to keep pressing in. Pull out the old pen and paper and create a plan to actually implement your ideas. If you're a service-based business needing fresh ideas, schedule a creative strategy meeting with me.  Sometimes you don't need another marketing package—you just need a creative mind in the room.

Have an idea but aren't sure where to take it? Feeling stuck with your marketing? Need someone to brainstorm with you, organize your thoughts, or help turn an idea into an actionable plan?

Let's figure it out together.

My Creative Meetings are collaborative, focused sessions designed to help you think through your ideas, solve marketing challenges, and walk away with a clearer direction for your business.