So far, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) provided us with abundant access to everything, which is bad. This is because with seemingly enormous opportunities, the excess of technology have produced adverse effects on our lives. Technology makes us more creative only if we use it appropriately and measurably.

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Body
Being close to the newest gadgets and hi-tech advancements does not automatically mean that we keep our mind alive and make it think. Mostly, we consume the readymade e-content approaching us from various sources (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, e-mails, and soon), though we do not generate or brainstorm our own ideas. The feasible association in due respect is about watching TV vs. reading. When we watch TV, the ready picture absorbs our mind and makes it feel comfortable. Conversely, reading forces us to imagine the setting and think about the characters, their behaviors and emotions. In other words, reading provokes creativity within us. TV, just like other popular mass media much influenced by technological development, has made our minds lazy and non-productive. Therefore, people mostly apply technologies in non-creative ways just to satisfy own interests and needs within their zone of comfort (Forbes 3).

In front of computer screens and with I-gadgets in our hands, we simply consume e-content technologies bring us turning our minds in a huge garbage. The time we spend with technologies is wasted minutes and hours we would rather dedicate to something more creative and active. Furthermore, technologies satisfy our concern about other people’s lives. While spending precious time on stalking others, we fail to make our own live better. The automatic actions in today’s social communication like chatting, posting, liking, sharing, twitting have nothing to do with brainstorming and creativity. Rather than producing (inventing) something on our own, we spend time on observations of the news, events, and happenings in the lives of other people (mostly celebrities or people we know) that have nothing in common with our own life. This turns most of high-tech generated opportunities into real time stealers. Mind how much precious time you spend uselessly on Facebook.

While smartphones and tablets are great entertainers, they will never inspire genuine creativity in us. Sadly enough, these smart and innovative devices only make our life easier, though they do not make us better. We have got virtually dependent or even obsessed with the newest gadgets, though this is an erroneous path. Technology plays well for people who do not consume them, but reap benefits from the available opportunities in their professional lives. At that, they control the time they spend with the devices. They well-manage their time online and apply available content and resources to do analytics, prepare business reports, write articles, and maintain blogs. Professional activities mostly require creative approaches, and so in this respect the use of cutting-edge technologies is justified and essential. In all other cases, however, the overwhelming majority of users just do not know how to turn the technologies into their reliable helpers in all possible respects. This means that possessing an i-Phone or any other innovative gadget does not necessarily mean that their holder manages his/her time with technologies well or utilizes them to brainstorm ideas, for example.

Excessive dependence on innovative devices makes our mind think differently than we did three decades ago. Then, everyone would recall someone’s birthday, could calculate in his or her mind, recite at least part of a poem, and invent ideas for interesting and active leisure. Today, we hold everything in a small device and utterly rely on its functionality. Virtually, we do not have to bother our minds with thinking hard. Anytime we can check anything online always available at hand. Such easiness and simplicity have turned the millennium generation into the information society. The prevailing trend makes our lives unimaginable without vast use of the ICTs in virtually all domains of our life. While mental work has become more profitable and prestigious than conventional manual work, we all hardly rely on technology that generates existential shifts in our being and worldviews (The Guardian 2).

Technology was not part of our parent’s childhood and that deficiency made them think creatively in all possible respects. Children invented their own games and entertainment in addition to the existing ones. Everyone wanted to be part of neighborhood or community life. People shared books and experiences as indispensable part of daily live conversations. People lived real lives without the excess of technologies. What we see today is a catastrophe in communication patterns. In the past, friends gathered to see and talk to one another, whereas today everyone arrives with their favorite gadget and goes on chatting online. Because of social media networks that embraced everyone, people are only chatting in artificial environment instead of meeting one another.

Seemingly, most of us just do not realize the need for being creative while there is Microsoft, Apple, Samsung, and of course Google, that will do everything for us. However, the utter sense of our existentiality is different. While we get everything owing to the great creators, we cannot just lazily consume everything during our lifetime. The thing is that we should create too. That is a great sense of our being and living on Earth. Without being creative, we lose our identities and inner touch with everything created in this world so far. The sad news for many is that it is just not enough to consume everything and all the time. Just as we expect others to generate more advanced creations, they also want us to create at least something.

Conclusion and recommendations
Overall, the abundance of technologies and assumed opportunities they have brought in our lives best serve professionals who use them to make money or develop professionally. In all other instances, technologies have filled the gap of deficiency and made virtually everything possible online. Consequently, the overwhelming majority of the Internet users are simply consumers who satisfy their hedonic needs. They spend time online consuming the readymade e-content coming in various possible forms. At that, they fail to create on their own.

The first thing to do is to realize the role technology plays in our own life. We should determine the effects of the applied technologies and their benefits to us. This will allow sorting out and excluding the technologies that have no purpose for us and steal our time. Further, it is essential to access the technologies capable of making us grow professionally. Only then, we can create and innovate with the help of innovative software, platforms, and devices. Finally, we should not substitute our mind’s capacity to think and create with advanced functions of our devices; rather it is advisable to do things on our own just as our ancestors did decades ago. This practice will keep our mind in the right shape and will drive it for suggesting non-standard solutions and brainstorming creative approaches. Less reliance on technology will certainly make our life more active and engaging.

Works Cited
  • Forbes. “Study: The More Stuff We Have, The Less Creative We Are.” 2015. Web. http://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2015/11/19/study-the-more-stuff-we-have-the-less-creative-we-are/#3f4351fb31b4
  • The Guardian. Is technology making us more creative? 2015. Web. http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/2015/jun/18/technology-creative-creativity-web-content