The 5 Ways We Killed Our Creativity.
Nowadays, when I find an article online—which usually pops up, I mean, who searches up “articles” and just reads one?—It seems like the writer has never even spoken to a real person before. I mean, I’m no Pulitzer-winning author either, but why are professional journals either really hard to read, or written over a topic that is so insignificant it bores you? It seems to be linked to the fact we’re forced to pump out creative pieces instead of… well, actually wanting to write them. This can also be why the quality of your academic pieces may seem bland and birthed forcefully. Therefore, that grade of 75% seems deserving. Creativity has become a deadline and not something fun anymore. We’ve capitalized something that cannot be capitalized without losing its essence and very definition.
1. Writing for Others
We ask ourselves “Is this relatable?” before we ask “Is this true?” The fear I have of people I dislike stumbling upon my articles comes first before I think – maybe writing “for others” means that it’s not worth writing at all. We spend more time worrying about how we are perceived than working on being more clear and easily understood by others. What that means is if we spend more time on ourselves, growing and figuring our own selves out first, we won’t be victims of needless worrying if you’ve said the words that need to be said. Do we write for the validation of others, for ourselves, or to express our thoughts that we have deemed to have enough “tellability?”
2. The word “I” has been erased by academic writings
I understand why we don’t use personal pronouns in academia. But it has heavily contributed to the loss of personal touches within the realm of writing any piece. We’ve lost personal pronouns in writing because of the standard academic essays. They have stripped us of our “I.” Is it because we can be criticized personally this way? We can hide behind objective and factual statements, with nobody to associate this writing explicitly with. Now that I think of it, second-person writing has enabled AI and made it easier for it to not credit anyone; as AI generates using professional works with factual information lacking opinion, making it easier for it to copy paste and be deemed reliable. Because we aren’t writing as ourselves, we’re writing as reporters.
3. Fear of a Blank Page
Fill it before the void takes me! Again, we are forced to generate like we are a robot. Write a 12345 septillion word essay on the implications of the economy from tariffs for this elective… What? Do I even care about that? But nonetheless, we must fill that page. Same here, I must write an article. Quick, write it about anything! Fill the page, even if it’s not something you particularly even agree with. We find the most common, basic point in a topic to argue and fill the paper with that nonsense. This then gets transferred into our own academic lives, the incapability of creativity since it’s all juiced out of you for a topic you don’t care about but nonetheless forced to submit before 11:59 PM. We’ve lost the ability to live until something actually worth saying comes along. Even now, I realize I have a minimum word count that I must reach… I think I’ll stretch this article out a little more by writing more but really saying nothing at the same time.
4. Creativity becoming a job
Creativity became a schedule. When you have to produce something every week, at one point you stop waiting for quality and begin settling for anything that gets the job done. I honestly didn’t major in journalism for this reason. It was a great point of interest for me. I love writing and politics, but the idea of my hobby turning into work takes away the charm that drew me to it. So if I really did get into journalism or writing professionally, I think my spark would diminish. While this isn’t the case for everyone, it may be the answer to why there’s so many articles and novels out there that seem to be written so pointlessly.
5. The Death of Drafts
In our fast-paced world, we don’t let ideas marinate at all. I can say I relate to this heavily as a student. Have you ever clicked submit on the worst assignment you’ve ever worked on… but felt so much relief because at least it’s over? That’s pretty much what writing has generally devolved into nowadays. Is it just me or do the books at the library really just seem like they were written for the sole reason of being there? We’ve traded actual quality of writing for relief of releasing a half-baked thought out.
Finally, I’ve reached the deadline. I know, this entire article is very meta. The irony hasn’t been lost on me. Am I part of the problem by writing an article to meet an end quote? Probably. But if you’re feeling the same way, then I hope I helped you understand why creativity doesn’t feel the same. The problems arise from unoriginality and socio-academic self esteem, from industrialization and the flaws of the academia community itself to reach a verdict. I guess we are all now in the same boat. Now, if you excuse me, I have a “submit” button to click.