Last week I was at a hair appointment when the beautician and I somehow got on the subject of the decline of creativity and how our lack of pursuing creative endeavors could bring about the fall of humanity in the near future. Obviously, this is not idle chit-chat one would usually have with someone who cuts her hair. Or really, with anyone they only see once every few months.

However, I kept thinking about this subject long after I left with my hair looking fabulous, by the way. Then I got the call out for this opportunity to write something for this blog and for all you readers and writers.

Is the Decline of Creativity Actually Happening?

Now, surprisingly, my beautician’s point of view on this subject was somewhat negative and dystopian or cyberpunk in direction. And while I could definitely see her points on the decline of creativity affecting the world as a whole, I would rather look at it from a constructive angle.

So, I went to AI to see what the almighty destroyer of creative thought in the future has to say about this subject. Of course, it (I say “it” because it has been referring to itself as “me” way too often for my own sensibilities) starts with some scientific research, saying that “human creativity and divergent thinking have been declining steadily since 1990, even as general intelligence scores continued to rise.”

Apparently, according to some researchers, the number of ideas humanity has produced had peaked around 1990. They also have hypothesized that while AI-assisted writing has increased the expansion of vocabulary usage, it still reduces actual creative ideas.

I know some college teachers who have been fighting AI use for writing for some years now and are no further ahead of the statistic that 67% have been reported to have used it to write their assignments. Of course, I wonder about these students’ intelligence in admitting this to any researcher.

We All Started Out as Creative Geniuses

Now I promised a less dystopian view of our creative endeavors in humanity while still keeping this article less like a college thesis, so here it is.

When we are at the kindergarten age as children, our creative testing is found to be at genius levels. Roughly 98% of us were geniuses in the creative department when we started our lives, but we dive to just 2% of us keeping that sense of creative thought by the time we become adults.

What Is Driving the Decline of Creativity?

I keep wondering why our society has seemed to lose that creative mojo steadily since 1990. So, I asked AI again what societal drivers have caused this decline since the year 1990 in humanity's creative endeavors?

It came back with the researchers’ findings that there has been a “multifaceted cultural shift in how society values time, how media is consumed, and most critically, how children are educated.” There has been a loss of passive playtime.

I’m leaving the educators to consider this shift in education because I’m not an educator, nor do I have a degree in education. And because I really do not want to get into fights with anyone on this subject.

However, I have an education in mass communication and have been a published author for decades now. I have seen and witnessed firsthand the increased frequency of people who have passed by my table at events and, when asked, “What do you like to read?” more often, they smile and tell me (sometimes with some pride in their voices) that “I don’t read anything now that I’m an adult.”

When did they give up doing anything creative, or when was the last time they took on a creative project on a weekend just to make themselves happy in the act of accomplishing something?

Apparently, according to researchers and AI, this shift away from creative endeavors over to watching television, streaming movies, playing video games, or even just daydreaming about your own future started our society in creative decline back in 1990. Remember that most of us were creative geniuses back when we were five years old.

Finding Our Creative Mojo Again

I’m not saying you should be writing, because really, I have plenty of competition in this creative endeavor. However, at some point you had the aptitude for expressing your ideas through painting, dancing (visual arts), decorating, flower arranging, or even spoon carving.

Whatever it is that can bring you some joy, because the alternatives are driving our collective society to letting AI do it all for us. There will be no joy in continuing down that road. It took a beautician to make me consider that road.

As I always tell people who bother to ask me why I write stories, “It brings me personal joy and because it’s much cheaper than therapy!”

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About Pattie

Pattie (PJ) Hulstrand is an author of Time-Travel Romance, Paranormal Urban Fantasy, and an upcoming extreme sports suspense/thriller series. She also has an award-winning non-fiction, “The Jungle Survival Guide to Media Kits for Authors,” and a little duck book series for children.

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