Critique of Pure Creativity: Shortage of Attention

Your attention didn't collapse; it was stolen.

During the episode 'Innovating is a Natural Thing, Billions of Years Ago' on the CrieAtive+ Podcast, I discussed with my friends Felipe Zamana and Mirian Rodrigues a series of ideas fertilizing a new concept we call 'organic entrepreneurship.'

Among all the ideas tossed around, one caught my ATTENTION.

Despite all efforts to foster and manage creativity and innovation processes, we still struggle to engage people deeply and consistently.

Zamana mentioned how the term 'creativity' is heavily worn out by a usage that doesn't extract the best oil it could offer.

It seems that the creative act is still a mere 'doer of things,' not inspired or inspiring.

The pressure to deliver results has confined creativity to a worker capable only of following rules, losing its most fantastic essence—breaking any rule to give birth to the innovation we crave.

Do we crave it?

In this first part, let's talk about the assault on the central bank of our emotions.

Our attention has been forcefully taken, and it seems we enjoy it.

Our everyday creativity is compromised because we can't endure more than 5 seconds of boredom, comfortably leaving us behind in a game demanding original ideas for a chance at survival.

It seems people can't go beyond the first yard in practically anything.

What's happening?

We're experiencing a serious attention crisis — a crisis with enormous implications on how we live. I've learned that there are proven factors reducing people's ability to pay attention, and many of these factors have increased in recent decades — sometimes dramatically.

A perfect storm of cognitive degradation.

The factors harming our attention aren't all immediately obvious.

Initially, we focus on technology, but the causes vary widely — from the food we eat to the air we breathe, from the hours we work to the hours we no longer sleep well.

It includes many things we consider natural — from how we deprive our children of play to how our schools strip meaning from learning, basing everything on tests.

Just as the feminist movement claimed women's rights over their own bodies (a struggle that continues today), I advocate for a movement for Attention, to regain control over our minds. Urgent action is essential, similar to addressing climate or obesity crises — the longer we wait, the harder it becomes.

As our attention degrades, gathering the personal and political energy necessary to confront the forces stealing our focus becomes increasingly challenging.

The first step requires a shift in our awareness. Instead of blaming ourselves or making minimal demands on our employers and tech companies, we must recognize that our minds belong to us.

Together, we can reclaim them from the forces seeking to steal them.

In the first volume of the Book of Disquiet, Fernando Pessoa says that to achieve a dream, one must forget it, and distract attention from it. 'That's why achieving is not achieving,' comments the poet. For him, 'life is full of paradoxes like roses of thorns.'

Creativity is a cultural act, drawing from our personal stories and the dreams we seek to fulfill. The quality of this combination determines the results we achieve.

Therefore, the quality of our attention directly interferes with the quality of our choices.

Using creativity as a purely executive resource has undermined its power to transform the world through ideas that can always be recombined, broken down into smaller pieces, and rearranged to make new sense and generate new perspectives.

And all of this only works with emotional fuel. Rare nowadays!

As long as we're living on microdoses of dopamine every 5 seconds offered by our social media news feeds, we are condemned to an uncertain future, in which even the most sophisticated artificial intelligences may not be able to help us.

It's necessary to exercise boredom, which has been proven to be a holy remedy for curing the damn attention scarcity. But, that will be the theme for the second part of this trilogy.

Now, let's see what Mirian and Felipe have to say about these ideas.

Mirian Rodrigues:

[ But rest assured, our attention is not as limited as that of a goldfish.

The idea that human attention is more limited than that of a goldfish, often cited in reports since 2015, deserves a more detailed and scientific analysis. This comparison, suggesting a human attention span of less than 8 seconds (less than the 9 seconds attributed to goldfish), originated from misconceptions of an unconfirmed study and was neither conducted nor supported by Microsoft. This error highlights the importance of a rigorous and methodologically sound approach to research assessment.

In a broader context, our era is marked by an incessant quest for immediate gratification, driven by the constant consumption of content on social media and other digital platforms. This dynamic has led to a persistent sense of dissatisfaction. According to Dr. Anna Lembke, a psychiatrist and Stanford professor, we have become the 'Dopamine Nation,' a term she uses to describe our dependence on pleasurable and instant stimuli in her 2021 book. Furthermore, the trend of seeking medications to enhance personal satisfaction, boost cognitive abilities, and avoid 'FOMO' has been analyzed by Lembke in another work, published in 2023. I recommend reading both works.

In this scenario, we are left with the reflection: it is imperative to turn our attention to what is genuine and meaningful. In a world full of digital distractions, the current cycle invites us to rediscover the art of being present, eliminating multitasking and screen dominance in our lives. This call emphasizes the importance of listening, observing, and deeply connecting with others and the environment around us.

Simultaneously, my recent research on health and prevention, conducted under the '3 Waves' certification from the Aerolito.io futures literacy institute, reinforces the idea that health is a multidimensional facet. This study highlights the need to manage all aspects of health, with a particular focus on mental wholeness. Among the promising approaches found, neurohacking stands out, a strategy based on the latest findings in neuroscience.

To strengthen genuine attention, strategies like stimulating Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), crucial for neuroplasticity, are essential. Practices like daily meditation increase gray matter in areas of the brain responsible for attention and memory. Additionally, quality sleep is fundamental for memory consolidation and creativity. Mental challenges forming new neural connections are also crucial to keeping the brain agile. These actions, though simple in theory, require strategic planning and implementation, driving habit changes in the 'now' to build a future where we control our impulses and are not controlled by them...

Finally, as well pointed out by Thomas Frey, 'The way you envision the future changes your actions in the present. So, it's not just the present that builds the future. The future also builds the present.' This reflection underscores the importance of a conscious and intentional approach to our mental health and well-being in the current context.]

- Excellent perspective, Mirian: 'habit changes in the now to build a future where we control our impulses.' I believe this will be a great challenge for humanity going forward, as it has been for a long time, since the cognitive revolution. The difference today is the infinite digital stimuli that constantly hijack our attention. Protecting this asset, namely attention and where it can lead us, should be humanity's great goal in this 'new future' if we want to maintain consistent mental health.

And Felipe, what do you have for us?"

Felipe Zamana:

[ The current generation of the Creative Economy is centered on doing, that is, the makers. The democratization of customization, fueled by the Internet, was also, in a way, the democratization of creativity. Now, all of us have the means to make and create. For example, we can identify the growing popularization of Maker Culture and DIY (Do It Yourself), along with quick and free access to tutorials, materials, and educational content on different digital platforms.

Shifting the focus from the product to the creative process was a significant leap for this generation.

However, what we are now compelled to consume, more evidently, are the means to create. Yet, as Kirby Ferguson, the creator of Everything is a Remix, once said, 'We want the same, just different.' In the era of the Creative Economy, creating has become a lifestyle, packaged as an experience. Unfortunately, so much creation has made us blind to what truly matters. 'Doing for the sake of doing' and 'doing more and faster' keeps us numb and inattentive, all the while giving us the illusion of being productive. Unknowingly, we continue to create more of the same, just different. No matter how many cat videos you've seen or created—there's always room for one more.

At the same time, we see a growing concern about the impact of our actions and creations. Simply creating is not enough — we also need to assess whether what we create truly has value or adds something. Currently, this evaluation has been forgotten and devalued, with its responsibility transferred to algorithms, which now tell us what should or should not be created.

Undoubtedly, this shift in focus from product to process was essential for gaining more autonomy and freedom to create. However, in this new moment where social responsibility is indispensable for the development of creativity, the need to evaluate our creations becomes paramount again, and it cannot continue to rest solely in the hands of algorithms.

But this evaluation should not only occur at the result, as is customary. It should happen throughout the entire process, from identifying and analyzing the problem, proposing possible solutions, and finally, accepting or rejecting these solutions. In other words, creativity is the result of continuous evaluation of the creative act by the individual and, subsequently, by the group. From that point on, we need to practice what I call deliberate experimentation: our intention should be oriented towards experimentation, self-assessment, and learning, and our attention focused on processes and results.

Moreover, with the emergence of complex environmental, social, and humanitarian issues, the mind of a single individual does not seem sufficient to meet these new technological demands. Thus, with the maker generation, we have creativity as a social construct aspect. It is integrated into cultural and societal thinking, actively contributing to its construction through creative ecosystems.

We always build using what is already available. We create new technologies using existing technologies, and in making this move, we have exponential growth. The same happens with the development of ideas and concepts since they are born from available knowledge. Creativity is no different; we are building on the shoulders of giants.

We live in the contradiction of wanting to maintain what we already know the way it is while, at the same time, longing for novelty and change. But this conflict between being conservative and disruptive is what makes the gears of culture and society turn. As much as we love what creativity symbolizes today, it's necessary to accept the fact that, like anything else on the planet, it is also in constant transformation.

In the words of actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, 'There's a more powerful feeling than getting attention: paying attention.' Therefore, our attention must turn to the impact of our actions and creations, stimulating attitudes that promote social and cultural development. Creativity is not only responsible for personal self-realization but also a product of social interactions.

Creativity will only be complete when we can cultivate ecosystems of questioning minds, where the exchange of ideas and knowledge building constitute its most valuable asset.]

- Felipe, I really liked how you illustrated your ideas, leaving room for pollination, where it's possible to leave some pollen and, of course, take it a bit further, all while gaining nectar as a reward.

Fertile ideas for a deep and necessary reflection: 'Doing for the sake of doing' and 'doing more and faster' keeps us numb and inattentive, all the while giving us the illusion of being productive. Unknowingly, we continue to create more of the same, just different.

We are 'doing' and 'posting' in search of attention, forgetting to 'pay attention' to reality, where we can actually learn something.

All this noise is domesticating us to keep tightening screws, filling social media with as much content as we can create, with a need for attention that we don't even know if we really need.

As actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt well said about having focus in his TED Talk, 'I feel like I'm part of something bigger than me, so we protect ourselves from anything else that might steal our attention, and so we can just be present.'

Attention is the most valuable thing in the universe.

Everything that exists is there for contemplation and to surprise the traveler, no matter who, as long as they are sentient.

Are you?

It doesn't matter if you're in the cosmos, the multiverse, or the quantum universe. The attention capacity we have is within us for one reason: to perceive and understand life through its beauty.

Without daily doses of Thaumazein (from the Greek θαυμ?ζειν), that is, 'the admiration, perplexity, and wonder that the world causes,' it is impossible to release our attention to fly on its own. Try it!

And we can only do that if we come together in collaboration.

Yes, the beauty of humanity has always been and will always be in its inclination to work in cooperative systems. Living in networks is in our most primitive essence. Written in the deepest layers of our DNA.

Utopian?

Maybe, but as long as our attention is not receiving the best care, we may end up losing that power or exchanging it for a form of becoming comfortably numb.

Your creativity and your future depend on a vision that reconnects us to the rest of humanity, organically.

Pay attention to that. Agreed?