Do Smartphones Rob Us of Creativity? The Future of Children Growing Up in an Age Without Boredom

“Boredom” is disappearing from the world.

This is not just true for the world of adults.
In fact, the most serious impact is on the generation that has grown up holding smartphones since they were young.

Children in the past used to
have time on their hands,
throw stones,
doodle,
have impossible daydreams,
and continue playing meaningless games endlessly.

This “time of meaninglessness” was the breeding ground for creativity.

■ The Quiet Loss Suffered by “Children Robbed of Boredom”

Modern children encounter notifications before they encounter boredom.

・When they get a little bored, they watch short videos
・When it gets quiet, they use game apps
・Before they can start thinking, they swipe

They are being robbed of the very experience of “facing leisure time.”

Originally, boredom is the mother of creativity.
Only when pushed into boredom do people begin to use their “inner selves.”

But children today are flooded with external stimuli before they can use their inner selves.
As a result, rather than creating worlds in their minds, they become recipients of the worlds provided to them.

This is a bigger change than one might imagine.

■ Creativity is Born from “Inconvenience”

The reason Jobs and other tech founders did not give their children devices was not because—
they knew the “harm of smartphones,” but because
they wanted to protect the “source of creativity.”

No one knew better than they did what the “convenience” of technology takes away from people.

The more convenient things become, the less humans need to imagine.

・There is no need to wait
・There is no time to think
・There is no room to feel bored

In other words, the soil for creating something becomes thinner.

Convenience expands the outside of a human being, but it does not nurture the inside.

■ So, is the creativity of today's youth really disappearing?

It will not disappear completely.
But the “way creativity manifests” will certainly change.

Instead of "creating something from a blank slate" as in the past, we are shifting toward creating through "combining existing materials."

To use an analogy, it is closer to a DJ who remixes vast amounts of material to create something new than a painter who draws from zero.

This is a valid form of creativity in its own right. However, it becomes harder to produce deep originality.

This is because originality is born from the "persistence of a person who could not escape boredom."

■ Will a future come where the harms of smartphones are widely decried?

It will. But not in terms of "health" or "addiction," but in a much quieter form.

・An increase in young people who cannot maintain focus
・A struggle with deep thinking
・A lack of original ideas
・A weakening of the ability to "create one's own world"

Society as a whole will be unified toward "shallow and fast thinking," and the types of human talent will become skewed.

This is by no means a story of blaming young people. The environment has simply been designed to become this way.

Technology gives us the light of "convenience." But behind that, it steals away the shadow of "boredom."

And the real problem is that when humans lose their shadows, they also lose the meaning of the light.