Aaron D. Neufeld

Aaron D. Neufeld- BLOG #39- ‘Creating/Receiving’

Before technology, people used to learn how to play instrument. People used to learn how to build with their hands. People used to figure out how to make food, fix a light bulb, or find their way around the city, on their own. Today everything is about receiving. Everyone just takes in music, film etc. Nobody CREATES. Even garage band is someone else’s music and we, as the consumer, simply copy and paste. Nothing is original.

When was the last time you heard a song that was so incredibly unique that you couldn’t say it resembled any other artist or even any other genre? When was the last time you saw a film that didn’t resemble one you’ve seen before? Originality is dying. With all of this technology enabling the average Joe Shmo to become a filmmaker, actor, or a musician with programs like iMovie, Youtube, and Garage Band, anybody can be famous. Nobody has to try to be unique. Anybody can spend ten minutes doing a half-ass job while multi-tasking and create something that looks or sounds half-decent because we are simply copy and pasting work that others did to benefit us.

Today, we are becoming lazy. We are losing the interest and possibly even the ability to create and be original. We simply sit back and receive. Look at the film “WALL-E.” Humans in that film became so adjusted to technology and robots running their lives, that they lost interest in trying to run their own lives. They sat in a chair their entire life, video chatting with friends, being fed by robots, and working via Internet. Only when WALL-E crashed into one of the mobile chairs, breaking it, did the obese woman see a friendly face for the first time in years, in person. Is this what we have to look forward to?