Technology gets a lot of media coverage, and most of it is aimed at telling us what we ought to think about technology’s role in our lives. It’s either wonderful, and we should give all of our kids laptops and iPads, or it’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to the human race.
Talks about technology in terms of innovation follow the same route; it can be great, giving us room to explore, learn and collaborate on our own, or it can be detrimental, providing constant stimuli that steer us away from time to tinker, think and be still.
Whether you think the good outweighs the bad or vice versa, technology is obviously not going away. Google is currently launching a project to put Wi-Fi balloons in the sky, which will provide wireless internet to current dead zones around the world. The places we go to take a break from technology — mountains, forests, deserts and small town back-roads — are disappearing.
In order to move forward, we must learn to use technology in a way that enhances creativity and innovation rather than hindering it. To do so, let’s look at both sides of the story.
Technology that hinders: We don’t give ourselves free time. For a lot of us, every second that isn’t consumed by work, conversation, studying or sleep is spent with technology. Most of us can admit to aimlessly scrolling and reading statuses, tweets or comments that don’t add any value to our lives. While these tools have the potential to aid creative discoveries and innovation, we instead use them to fill any time we might possibly have to just sit and think, to let our mind wander and daydream or to observe the world around us (all of which are essential ingredients to an innovation-rich life).
Technology that enhances: On the flip side, I see endless potential in the Internet as a creative tool. Wikipedia, compiled by a lot of highly devoted volunteers, lets innovators read and stumble across webs of new ideas and information. The setup, with hyperlinks and just the right amount of randomization, is quite conducive to the innovation principle of linking new information to known information. It allows you to expand your worldview and mindset, which allows you to draw on more experiences and knowledge, which in turn makes you more innovative and creative. This style, seen in Wikipedia, is illustrative of the culture of the World Wide Web.
Like many things, using technology is a balance. The best piece of advice I can give is to be purposeful with the technology you use. A 2011 study from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Iowa watched brain activity of 16 people observing a scene. The lead researcher, in an article in “Wired,” said the research indicated that we learn better when we can control what we learn.
For a lot of progressive teachers and school systems, controlled learning means integrating the internet’s tools for search and discovery into almost every element of education.
But controlling what we learn isn’t just a blind love affair with Google and Wikipedia. It also means controlling what we don’t learn and tuning out the negative, detrimental and useless.
Innovation means surrounding yourself with knowledge and thought-provoking people and information. A well-balanced, creative life means knowing when to follow the hyperlinks on an article you’re passionate about and knowing when to log out of Facebook, start a conversation or creative project and forget your iPhone exists.
