This week we were aske
d if the Internet stifled creativity. I counter with my own question: Can a fire be stifled with oxygen? The obvious answer then, for those non-science majors, is no. The internet, like oxygen for a fire, is a medium by which creativity is fueled and spread. Original material appears every day, in real life and on the internet. Websites like DeviantArt are devoted to artistic expression, expanding solely on user-created art work. Youtube is Xanadu for would-be directors and film makers. Many news corporations have journalistic articles that appear only online, pandering to the viewers who are slowly phasing out of the newspaper. Every day, users on social websites collaborate and plan ideas, showing the power of working together without needing to be with the group. Why are we even having this conversation?
I’m a member of an internet message board, and day after day, I’m astounded at the amount of collaboration and new ideas that sprout from people, seemingly random strangers, sharing their thoughts. One innovation that sticks out in my mind would be the idea of “userpics”, essentially a way for the message board users to host an image of themselves in order to make the message board feel more personal. The idea started from one person mentioning the idea of users having their photo next to their name. Pretty soon, a user who was a skilled programmer decided to try his hand at making a code for such an idea. With people giving all their ideas, the programmer made the idea into a program. Now, just about every user has downloaded the program and can see what everyone looks like, bringing everyone together a tad more.
Certain websites are used for nothing but the creation of new ideas like Nikolai’s Third Minds website. In particular, there is a website that lives on the idea of “if you can imagine it, we will make it”, with the medium being drawings and, sometimes, animations.If you use the internet, you can clearly see that it is a fantastic and developing means of expression. Having only been around for some 20 or so years, and having expanded so far, the creative content that will emerge from the internet in the next 20 years will be massive. The internet simply does not stifle creativity; it just provides a new medium of exchange and showcasing.
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Let’s talk about Sparknotes. Sparknotes was originally designed to be a supplement to school reading assignments. But ask any high school student in America, and you will learn that this is not the case. Instead of reading books for school, students just read the Sparknotes. Why read the book yourself, when you can “stand on the shoulders of others”?
The result: students only obtain a loose understanding of the material, and do not develop their own opinions and ideas about the book. They simply spew out the canned analysis that Sparknotes has provided. Instead of using their own critical thinking skills, the vast majority of students abuse the internet and take the lazy alternative. Perhaps this is not a problem with the internet, as much as it is the people who are using it.
I guarantee that the people who write the Sparknotes actually read those novels and took the time to master them. Similarly, the people who do not simply rely on the internet to provide them all of their answers will be better off. We cannot live vicariously through others for everything. The internet provides a great deal of breadth, but sometimes lacks the depth that only firsthand experience provides.