Balancing the Use of Technology and Human Creativity in a Digital Age
Technology has evolved so much in the past decade, which has caused massive adoption in a lot of industries and organizations. Life has been made easier for many business owners and even students as they benefit from the tools and equipment created to reduce the workload they’ve been entrusted with.
Many people can no longer imagine life without technology, and this is proof that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. However, it is pertinent that while we encourage the use of all these technological inventions, we must also ensure that total dependency is ruled out for us.
A case study would be the use of artificial intelligence. It has been the most talked-about technology in the past two years, and everyone has likely been influenced by the fear of missing out (FOMO). Both young and old people, junior and senior staff, poor and rich, all benefit from its usage for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, AI has been programmed to process a large amount of data and deliver an accurate or almost accurate output, which helps reduce the bulk of the work and, subsequently, human error. Many of us get overworked and tired from our businesses every day, and when we’re home, we can easily choose to share that complex code or research links that have been giving us a hard time unraveling and expect that it will produce exactly what we need. A lot of engineers now automate their systems with the use of AI rather than spending their entire day on full manual integration.
These days, people are also able to use AI to generate images for their blog posts and clear videos for social media ads and engagement without going through the hassle of shooting or sourcing for good content. Most of these AI applications also have free versions to serve the populace. This simply means that the barrier to entry for artificial intelligence softwares is low and everyone can benefit from its existence.
Arguments, however, have stemmed from various channels about the use of AI affecting human creativity, and I quite agree with that. In our schools, we can find many young people who can no longer write a thousand-word essay or a formal letter to their friends anymore, and this is simply because they have gotten used to outsourcing the most basic thinking to a machine, which in turn slows down their creative process.
A lot of writers no longer write their blog posts or academic papers themselves. Rather, they feed the AI with some instructions, asking it to generate everything they need. This can be termed intellectual laziness because when you outsource your thinking to a machine, how then do you intend to make solid academic arguments in person and keep up with highly intellectual discussions without opening a book? Surely, it makes your brain lazy over time.
Even local farmers have been subjected to newer technologies, which over time make them less handy in doing their jobs. Graphic and experimental designers can no longer run independent design thinking processes without referring to AI. Some corporations even rely on it for marketing materials when humans are better suited for the job. All of these make it a hard nut to crack.
The solution here is not to fully kick against the use or adoption of technology. It is to encourage necessary and smart usage. People should not use technology for things they can do on their own. They should not depend on it for every task they’ve been assigned or commissioned for. Rather, they should consider it as a helpmate, one that comes in when you’re running out of time to meet a deadline or when accuracy is the top priority for a job.
It should also be used for brainstorming, but at the core, nuance, emotions, and human depth should be applied to every output, and that is the responsibility of every user. This way, everyone gets to remain innovative and in touch with their creative side. Ultimately, being strategic with technology determines whether it replaces our efforts or amplifies them, and I hope many people get to learn this.
THANK YOU FOR VISITING MY BLOG!🤗
It's a good analysis, but it has certain biases. While laziness certainly plays a role, there's also the problem of access to knowledge. For example, I was researching a topic for a book only available in English on Amazon. I couldn't buy it online because in my country (Venezuela has restrictions) it wasn't available even in pirated form since it was out of print, and it was important. So I asked an AI about certain concepts, and they did have the information I was looking for. The point is, one might say that seeking information from an AI makes people lazy, but what happens when you don't have legal access to the knowledge you need? What happens when you face restrictions you can't circumvent in any other way?
It's very easy to tell a researcher to continue using old methods when they can access specialized, paid websites, and you don't even have enough money to buy groceries. It's also easy to judge someone who uses AI-generated images when they can't afford a graphic designer precisely because of financial limitations. And the list goes on. It's not just about convenience and time, but also about accessibility and cost.AI is used not just out of laziness, but because it allows you to learn about things that aren't easily accessible online, translates texts into your local language, and can synthesize complex concepts.
In conclusion, the growth in AI use is multifaceted and is tailored to each individual's circumstances and budget.