Disentangling the Link between Creativity and Technology Use: Individual Differences in Smartphone and Social Media (Over)Use

Marko Müller, Christian Montag
{"title":"Disentangling the Link between Creativity and Technology Use: Individual Differences in Smartphone and Social Media (Over)Use","authors":"Marko Müller,&nbsp;Christian Montag","doi":"10.1016/j.yjoc.2024.100081","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The recent years have seen a dramatic surge in the use of smartphones and social media, with the latter likely to be a driving force for smartphone use disorder (SmUD) tendencies. Smartphones are popularly perceived to suppress creativity by occupying moments of free thought and stealing time from developing new ideas. This paper contributes to the ongoing debate by providing a concise overview of contradictory literature findings, followed by presenting new data. In a sample of <em>N</em> = 509, self-rated creative self-efficacy (CSE) was inversely related to SmUD tendencies and, in subgroups of different sizes, to messenger overuse as well as to the frequency of Facebook and Instagram use. Notably, there was no such negative relationship between technology (over)use variables and the quantity of ideas (fluency) generated in divergent thinking (DT) tasks. However, the subjective and objective estimates of creative potential were positively associated. A heterogeneity analysis, in which the sample was split by sex, age, population group, and device used to participate in the online survey, uncovered varying correlations between technology (over)use and objectively measured creativity within some subsample pairs. Notable findings included a positive correlation between idea richness and time spent online with a stationary device (laptop/PC), among women, students, and those who participated in the online survey with non-mobile devices. Conversely, lower fluency scores were associated with more frequent Instagram use among men, and higher WhatsApp use among older generations. Overall, this study reveals a multifaceted relationship between creativity and media use that challenges prevailing media and public perceptions, with the mostly small effect sizes suggesting negligible connections.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":100769,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Creativity","volume":"34 2","pages":"Article 100081"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-02-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2713374524000074/pdfft?md5=bdc64c7fc09e8d63650c4bf7423f2568&pid=1-s2.0-S2713374524000074-main.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Creativity","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2713374524000074","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0

Abstract

The recent years have seen a dramatic surge in the use of smartphones and social media, with the latter likely to be a driving force for smartphone use disorder (SmUD) tendencies. Smartphones are popularly perceived to suppress creativity by occupying moments of free thought and stealing time from developing new ideas. This paper contributes to the ongoing debate by providing a concise overview of contradictory literature findings, followed by presenting new data. In a sample of N = 509, self-rated creative self-efficacy (CSE) was inversely related to SmUD tendencies and, in subgroups of different sizes, to messenger overuse as well as to the frequency of Facebook and Instagram use. Notably, there was no such negative relationship between technology (over)use variables and the quantity of ideas (fluency) generated in divergent thinking (DT) tasks. However, the subjective and objective estimates of creative potential were positively associated. A heterogeneity analysis, in which the sample was split by sex, age, population group, and device used to participate in the online survey, uncovered varying correlations between technology (over)use and objectively measured creativity within some subsample pairs. Notable findings included a positive correlation between idea richness and time spent online with a stationary device (laptop/PC), among women, students, and those who participated in the online survey with non-mobile devices. Conversely, lower fluency scores were associated with more frequent Instagram use among men, and higher WhatsApp use among older generations. Overall, this study reveals a multifaceted relationship between creativity and media use that challenges prevailing media and public perceptions, with the mostly small effect sizes suggesting negligible connections.

厘清创造力与技术使用之间的联系 智能手机和社交媒体(过度)使用的个体差异
近年来,智能手机和社交媒体的使用激增,而后者很可能是智能手机使用障碍(SmUD)倾向的驱动力。人们普遍认为,智能手机占据了自由思考的时间,偷走了开发新想法的时间,从而抑制了创造力。本文通过简明扼要地概述相互矛盾的文献研究结果,然后提供新的数据,为正在进行的辩论做出贡献。在一个 N = 509 的样本中,自我评价的创造性自我效能感(CSE)与 SmUD 倾向成反比,在不同规模的亚组中,与信使的过度使用以及 Facebook 和 Instagram 的使用频率成反比。值得注意的是,技术(过度)使用变量与发散性思维(DT)任务中产生的想法数量(流畅性)之间并没有这种负相关。然而,对创造潜力的主观和客观估计却呈正相关。根据性别、年龄、人口组别和参与在线调查所使用的设备对样本进行的异质性分析发现,在某些子样本对中,技术(过度)使用与客观测量的创造力之间存在不同的相关性。值得注意的发现包括:在女性、学生和使用非移动设备参与在线调查的人群中,创意丰富度与使用固定设备(笔记本电脑/PC)上网的时间呈正相关。相反,在男性中,流畅度得分较低与Instagram的使用频率较高有关,在老一代人中,WhatsApp的使用频率较高。总之,这项研究揭示了创造力与媒体使用之间的多方面关系,对媒体和公众的普遍看法提出了挑战。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
求助全文
约1分钟内获得全文 求助全文
来源期刊
CiteScore
2.10
自引率
0.00%
发文量
0
×
引用
GB/T 7714-2015
复制
MLA
复制
APA
复制
导出至
BibTeX EndNote RefMan NoteFirst NoteExpress
×
提示
您的信息不完整,为了账户安全,请先补充。
现在去补充
×
提示
您因"违规操作"
具体请查看互助需知
我知道了
×
提示
确定
请完成安全验证×
copy
已复制链接
快去分享给好友吧!
我知道了
右上角分享
点击右上角分享
0
联系我们:info@booksci.cn Book学术提供免费学术资源搜索服务,方便国内外学者检索中英文文献。致力于提供最便捷和优质的服务体验。 Copyright © 2023 布克学术 All rights reserved.
京ICP备2023020795号-1
ghs 京公网安备 11010802042870号
Book学术文献互助
Book学术文献互助群
群 号:481959085
Book学术官方微信