Is Creativity a Lost Cause?

As an author, I’m friends with hundreds, maybe thousands of like-minded writers, including some really big names and a lot of NYT best-sellers. I’m happy to be included in their coterie of acquaintances…but must shield myself from the evil elf of comparison who sits on my shoulder whispering how much of a loser I am compared to them. This is a trap and a lie, but here's the riddle: how do I control the info-dump luring me into the trap?

The relentless access to information we swallow daily actually rewires our thought processes, and more ominously, what we believe about ourselves. The other day I ran across a story about a guy who turned off his socials for three years and wrote four best-sellers. Now, I don’t know if that’s true, but point taken…if I linger long at the fountain of physical perfection, fabulous awards, and “how-to” methodology, I am positioning myself for failure…brainwashed… by all the trivia launched at me each day through social media ads and the evil elf of comparison. And now, ChatGpt and additional AI bots are available FREE. We don’t even have to USE our brains if we don’t want to! I experimented with it and used it to write some of my posts or as a tool when I’m stuck. It became a soul-suck. A black hole of dependency. I could almost feel the creative part of my brain begin to shrink. The problem is, AI writes really good stuff. Often, better than mine (or at least that is the lie it whispers subconsciously). I’m careful with it now. I try not to use it much (or at all) and stick to my faithful Merriam-Webster Thesaurus and One Stop for Writers/Emotion Thesaurus when I need a creative bump.

We writers, especially, should be cautious with the multitude of ChatGPT options multiplying faster than a bunny's brood in a briar patch...and not lean into it. The bots have long, seductive, bony fingers curling across our keyboards whispering ‘oh, my dear writer friend, it can be so much easier than this!’ It makes me shudder to think about the pull it had on me. I’m grieved as I think about the creativity lost due to the efficiency with which the bots write long and lustrous tomes. I’m avoiding it unless using it for something mundane which involves no creativity at all. I’m uncertain how we’re going to wrangle the AI curveball, but I sure hope it doesn’t snuff out artistic license completely. However, just as dangerous as AI to the creative mind is the evil elf of comparison. The elf’s voice will torment and twist and destroy the creative’s momentum unless a boundary is put in place. It is too easy to slide down a YouTube or Insta wormhole. Before I know it, an hour of mindless scrolling has passed and I'm numb and discouraged.

The bot population is out of control!!

A long time ago, I decided not to look at my phone before finishing my morning quiet time with God, preferring to log into the throne room before tackling the phone room. I’d love to totally unplug during the day, but ‘what if there’s an emergency?’ looms large. I so want to re-acquaint myself with a calm acceptance of who I am and the power that leaks from my fingertips—my own unique voice and story. To remember who I was before social media whisked me into a frothy mass of confusion, doubt, or futility. Like it or not, AI is gaining momentum like a freight train, infiltrating our homes, our minds, our careers, and imaginations. A composite of all the 'wisdom' in the world, some say. Who makes the decision which wisdom to gather and impart? How long before we morph into mere dependent puppets dancing to AI's manic, data-driven tune?

I’m sensing a social media fast in my future, a hard look at how long and often I interface with my devices, and a personal return to sanity.