Over the past 30 years, human creativity has declined steadily due to academic pressure, social media, and, more recently, artificial intelligence. This is not only observed through qualitative evidence but supported by quantitative evidence as well. Developed in 1966 by psychologist Dr. E. Paul Torrance, the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) has long been used to measure creativity and divergent thinking. Dr. Kyung Hee Kim, Professor of Innovation and Creativity at the College of William and Mary, analyzed TTCT scores from 272,599 individuals in 2008, ranging from kindergarten students to adults. Results from her study indicated that creative thinking scores have decreased by a substantial amount since 1990. From 1998 to 2008, scores have dropped in areas such as open-mindedness, number of ideas produced, levels of detail, originality, and most prominently, creative strengths by 23.81%. According to Kim, this decrease of creativity will continue in the upcoming years.

What is creativity?

According to the American Psychological Association, creativity is the ability to form imaginative, valuable, and novel ideas, and it presents itself in a variety of ways. To be creative, one must be capable of viewing things from a different perspective. 

Psychologist, professor, and creativity researcher at the University of Connecticut, Dr. James C. Kaufman, helped classify creativity into four categories: the Mini-c level, the Little-c level, the Pro-c level, and the Big-c level. According to Kaufman, creativity is not limited to certain individuals, but rather something everyone may experience and develop in different ways. Teachers being aware of this system can help them be more successful in their teaching.

The Mini-c level of creativity is when one creates something meaningful to them, but not something major. An example is a child bringing home a painting they made at school. The Little-c level of creativity is when one creates something that could be of value to others. An example of this is the parents loving the painting that the child brought home from school. The Pro-c level of creativity is when one can create something at a professional level, but it doesn’t specifically help the person make a living. An example of this is the child majoring in art in college when they grow up. Finally, the Big-c level of creativity is when one does or creates something that can go down in history. An example of this is the painting(s) being bought by many different people who collect art. 

“At the most basic level, [creativity] means linking what you’re learning to what you know,” Kaufman said. “It means making a metaphor, analogy, or example in your head, and that’s a creative act.”

Westview Theatre Company Tech Crew member Rylie Nevarez (12) said she applies her knowledge from math classes to her own creative work.

“In set, a lot of the time we have to work with not so perfect measurements, and so we usually need to use a lot of trig to get some easier measurements, or at least simplify them a bit.”

Social Media

With the emergence of new technology in the past 20 years, social media has impacted creative communities at large. According to the University of California, Davis (UCD) Health, social media is addictive; it causes procrastination by pulling a person’s attention away from work and other meaningful activities, such as creating art or writing stories. 

Alara McPhee (11) is the president of both Philosophy Club and Creative Writing and Performance Club. As a member of Theater Tech, McPhee finds interest in both writing and producing films with her friends. She feels like social media negatively impacts her even more when it comes to completing her tasks.

“I feel like social media worsens the pressure that many students feel already when it comes to college admissions and succeeding academically,” McPhee said. “I think [social media] impacts creativity negatively in almost an indirect way; every post I see is telling me that I need to do more academically to get into college, and this pushes me away from spending time on my creative outlets.”

English teacher Jose Lucero said he believes that students could partake in more beneficial activities than spending time on social media.

“I think that the time that students spend searching on social media, or viewing social media, could be used in other creative outlets,” Lucero said. “I see the impact social media has on kids. They become unproductive and waste time on social media when they could be doing something else more creative or productive with their time.”

Nevarez said social media tends to distract her from completing her tasks. 

“I often find myself doom-scrolling instead of being productive,” Nevarez said. “Technology can be a great aid in creativity, but again, like AI, it is often misused, and people will treat it like the solution rather than a tool to help them solve the problem.”

Academic pressures

According to Kim, too much focus on grades and tests often discourages people from being creative. Due to schools’ overemphasis on standardized testing, students prioritize getting a good score over fostering imaginative thinking. AP Studio Art student Alina Doble (11) said she finds it difficult to incorporate creativity into her learning schedule.

“I feel you’re going to need both [logic and creativity] in order to fully understand what you’re trying to learn successfully,” Doble said. “When it comes to cramming for an upcoming exam, it’s hard to find the time to think more imaginatively and in depth when you’re trying to go over a unit’s worth of content at the end of the week.”

Due to the education system, students end up sacrificing time previously allocated for creative outlets that promote creativity. However, Kim said creativity comes from taking chances, whether or not they result in positive outcomes. 

Kim said that the American school system has started motivating students to stop utilizing their creativity.

“Before, teachers were more focused on making learning fun, with fun activities and not tests at all,” Kim said. “It was encouraging [the children’s] curiosity, but not anymore. It’s more towards memorization. The entire U.S. American education is geared toward testing. [Students] can’t be creative because they’ll study something unrelated to their genuine interests. Studying for a test is not learning. After the test, they’ll forget about it, and all that information will  disappear.”

Approximately 73% of public schools offering Kindergarten classes reported in 2010 that they used Kindergarten entry assessments (KEA). Kim said that standardized tests affect children negatively.

“[Kids] are not focused on playing or their interests; they are more focused on worksheets,” Kim said. “They are already taking exams. A lot of parents think it’s good for their children to study earlier, but it’s not. Your brain becomes only focused on memorization, you can’t think of anything else. You can’t think critically, you can’t make something new, you can’t have a new idea at all.”

According to McPhee, outlets that allow for people to utilize their imagination are important to foster creative communities.

“[Creative outlets] are the biggest thing for me,” McPhee said. “I applied to creative classes like Writing Seminar, and that class got cut because not enough people applied. Our school doesn’t really have programs like that, even creative writing and performance were kind of struggling because not a lot of people want to do that. Only 17 people applied, and I knew most of those people because of how small the creative community is at Westview.”

AI overeliance 

Over the past few years, with the emergence of ChatGPT and other LLMs, artificial intelligence (AI) has become increasingly accessible to the general public. While these advances can boost efficiency and productivity, research suggests there may be unintended consequences. A study conducted by Harvard School of Medicine showed that while AI can help people be more efficient and productive, it’s slowly leading to a decline in originality in work, as well as causing people to feel less motivated. Lucero said that he has observed an overreliance on AI in his classroom. 

“At times, I feel students use AI as a crutch,” Lucero said. “Their immediate reaction is to look it up on AI versus struggling to make meaning for themselves.”

Matt Ingham, a math teacher at Westview, said that he, too, has noticed that students’ overreliance on AI has taken a negative toll on their creative abilities.

“For math in particular, when [AI] is taken away, students miss out on the ability to be resilient, problem solve, and give themselves time to let their brains work through a problem,” Ingham said. “Instead, when you get stuck on a problem, it’s become too easy to just look at the answer and think, ‘oh, that’s how you do it.’ instead of learning how to do things on your own.”

Nevarez said that she is concerned that AI is negatively impacting her and others’ creativity.

“I do my best to stay away from AI as much as I can,” Nevarez said. “With AI acting like a crutch, it’s like if you have a cast on and you need it to help you heal, but if you leave it on, you’re just hurting yourself more. I feel like I’m falling behind sometimes because other students use AI, but I’m really just at the level I’m supposed to be.”

According to Kaufman, the emergence of AI may have even larger consequences for the future of creative careers.

“My biggest global concern is that there’s a good chance that AI is going to eliminate an awful lot of starter jobs that a lot of people take if they want to specifically pursue a creative career,” Kaufman said. “A lot of the jobs that are being lost are very creative in nature. That’s not a good thing.”

Why creativity matters

According to Kim, creativity is crucial, not only for personal expression but also for problem-solving and innovation. It is necessary for human advancement.

“Without creativity, human beings would have continued to live in caves,” Kim said. “We wouldn’t have any progress. Only because of people’s curiosity did people want to make something new. They want to improve, that’s why progress exists. Without creativity, it’s a problem.”

Nevarez said that she makes space in her busy schedule to give herself time to continue with her creative hobbies. 

“I love being dedicated to theater, but I’m also trying to give myself time for myself,” Nevarez said. “I’m taking classes that I like and want to do and know I can be creative in, like Drawing and Painting and Ceramics.”

Lucero is making an effort to combat the decline in creativity in students’ work by having students write on-demand essays on paper rather than on a device. Having students write on paper ensures that it’s their real work and not generated by artificial intelligence.

“At times, I wonder if I am providing enough opportunity for students to be creative,” Lucero said. “I always try to find a balance between analytical work and work that requires students to use their creativity. One thing I am starting to transition to is paper assessments, so ultimately, students will have to prove their understanding without technology tools.”