Best of the Week: The Elusive Big Idea

               I believe the article “Elusive Big Idea” is very thought provoking. It brought up many observations and ideas about our society that I had never thought about. When I first started reading the article, I thought it was going to be one of the clique articles stating that our current generation is lazier than past generations due to T.V. watching or plain laziness or something along those lines. But the article went on to state a very original and analytical view of today’s society. Neal Gabler, the author of the article emphasizes that our slow-down of ideas is due to the age of Enlightenment coming to an end. In the “post Enlightenment” society that we live in now often puts more importance on learning and knowing the discoveries and ideas of the past rather than coming up with our own ground-breaking ideas. This is mainly because there is so much information out there nowadays that trying to learn it all is impossible, so people often don’t think creatively or divergently in order to come up with new brilliant ideas. 

                One observation that I totally agree with is that part of the reason for our passive thinking and lack of ideas is the rise in popularity of social networking and the Internet. With the Internet, people are able to access any information they could ever want to know, in a very quick and convenient way. Social networking is a very useful tool to connect with friends close and far, but it does not do a whole lot for the formation of ideas. Social networking helps to widen one’s social circle, and even to pass on ideas; but it does not allow one to discover much about themselves or the world around them. I personally have realized that Facebook is one of the biggest unproductive time-suckers ever invented. I now think of it as very dull compared to other things I could do with my free time like create something or read a good book. I have honestly gotten to the point where I would rather clean my room or organize something than go on Facebook. But I wasn’t always this way, I admit I used to be so easily distracted by Facebook and could easily spend way-too-much time browsing on the site. 

                 If divergent and creative thinking is not practiced, then the future will also experience a horrible lack of ideas. I believe that it is society’s responsibility to teach and emphasize divergent thinking in order to produce more useful discoveries in the future. Although I may not make any huge or significant discovery, after reading this article I am going to try my best to do more useful and idea-producing thinking. I usually try to think outside the box while learning in school, while creating art, and even while picking out an outfit to wear as well as in many other aspects of my life. I will also try to keep my mind open to different subjects to study and just to think about or research. I am always open to new interests, activities, and experiences. I prefer unconventional, new, and creative concepts to old and accepted ones. Hopefully, in the future we will see a world full of ideas and discoveries that change our world and way of living in more ways than just technologically and electronically.