03/11/2026
As creative minds, we are unmatched.
As a species, however, I sometimes think we are the stupidest creatures on the planet.
We are naturally creative. We build things. We make things. We paint, draw, sculpt, write music and create things with our hands. It's part of who we are. It's what gives us a sense of achievement, purpose and satisfaction.
Yet here we are, designing technology so that, as humans, we don't have to do those things anymore.
Why?
So we can free ourselves up to do what? More work?
I sometimes wonder whether we've lost sight of what it actually means to live.
Think about how our daily lives have changed.
We wake up, go to work, come home, shower, eat and perhaps relax in front of the television.
Except now, we wake up, check our emails, go to work, come home, check emails again, charge our phones and various gadgets, sign into streaming services using an email address, remember which subscriptions we pay for, and then spend half the evening deciding what to watch across multiple streaming platforms.
We might even listen to something on subscription radio, otherwise known as a podcast.
And here's what got me thinking about all this today.
I heard an advertisement for a podcast while I was at work. I was listening to Spotify, cycling through different genres of music, when an ad came on promoting some creative podcast hosted by an advertising agency guru based in New York.
The message?
Humans are born to create.
And I thought... isn't that ironic?
We're being told, through yet another piece of technology, that we need to reconnect with our natural desire to create.
Meanwhile, we're developing more and more technology designed to take the creative process away from us.
AI can write, AI can paint, AI can compose music, and technology can now do an incredible amount of the things that once required imagination, patience, skill and a human touch.
I'm not suggesting technology is inherently bad. It has its place, and there's no denying the incredible things it can do.
But somewhere along the way, I think we've confused convenience with progress.
We've become so accustomed to having everything done for us that we're forgetting the satisfaction of doing things ourselves.
There's something incredibly rewarding about starting with nothing, using your imagination, learning a skill, making mistakes, trying again and eventually producing something that didn't exist before.
It doesn't need to be perfect. It doesn't need to be commercially successful. It doesn't even need to be seen by anyone else.
Sometimes, the satisfaction is simply knowing you made it.
Perhaps we need to slow down a little.
Put the phones down. Switch off the screens. Step away from the technology.
Pick up a paintbrush, a pencil, a musical instrument, a piece of timber or whatever it is that makes you want to create.
Because I reckon the world doesn't need us to become more efficient every waking minute.
We've become so obsessed with making life easier that we're slowly removing the very things that make us human.
Perhaps it just needs us to become a little more human again.
