(Listen to the interview.)
The consensus is that media and technology are seriously infringing on the artist/musician/author's creative time.
An artist needs a great deal of quiet time, away from distractions, to create. Creativity comes from somewhere inside of us (or beyond us?), and in order to give our creative side a chance to come out, it needs it needs to be nurtured with silence. Artists need a space where the mind can wander aimlessly, as it is in this wandering that our imagination has a chance to play and fuel our bodies into acting upon our creativity.
What is social media doing to our quiet time? Emails and facebook can be checked constantly, blogs can be updated and suddenly the artist becomes available (and distracted) 24 hours a day. Artists are already geniuses at procrastination - that is why there is the stereotypical image of artists meeting at coffee shops - however, the studio, containing the computer has now become a key source of distraction.
Is there a solution?
An artist will have to be diligent about policing his own computer time. Limits will have to be set, that the artist, him or herself will have to impose and enforce.
Do you think about how much time you spend on the computer vs. how much time you spend in a silent space of creativity? Do you have certain time slots allotted for the computer? Do you make time for uninterrupted creativity? Or are you constantly distracted?
Are you disciplined? Is it possible to self-discipline to our full potential?
Is there the need for the evolution of a new type of artist? One that can multitask and still produce high quality work?
I have no answers to this one. I have computer discipline issues. I am a victim of my own curiosity. There is so much out there that I want to know about - people, information, and it's all at my fingertips! And, who is to say what is and isn't a waste of time? Am I procrastinating by blogging, or am I accomplishing something that may have importance in the future?
I can say that I am trying to use my computer time wisely - if I catch myself playing Angry Birds for longer than 15 minutes I consider that a waste of time. I try to do all of my emails at once. Facebook becomes a grey area, but I'm definitely wasting my time when I'm looking at photos of people I don't know.
We have to make our own choices when it comes to how much computer time we allow ourselves. In the future I'm going to try to be more conscious about my computer time, because I think I'd rather spend my time in a creative zone than in a facebook fog.
