Hannah Selders

English 1010: Written Communication I

Dr. Elzabeth Cuddy

Project #3: Rhetorical Analysis

Is the Internet killing your creative potential?

This essay by Matt Stefl and Andrew Rohm, Ph.D. is part of an Information Management

and Technology Series written in 2017. The two authors create an article on the topic “Is

technology killing creativity?”, to bring the issue to light and possibly persuade readers to solve

this issue. This piece was very persuasive, being that I was the audience. Although they spoke

from a perspective of work experience, I was able to connect with each thing that was said. From

factual evidence to real-life examples they were able to deliver each point of view in a way for

readers to understand and even reevaluate themselves according to the things that were proven in

the essay.

The essay begins with "The Cultivation of Creativity". In reading this section, I learned

that both authors are in the world of business therefore they speak in a very formal and

educational style. They define creativity as “the ability to generate unique and novel ideas that

are relevant and/or useful.” (Matt Sttefl and Andrew Rohm). In another selection, creativity is

defined as the requirement of both originality and effectiveness. (Jaeger) Although they believe

this definition is high in demand, they also believe that it’s low in supply in today’s workforce,
especially for marketing. In this section, the authors also explain that creativity “ is not just a

skill reserved for, or unique too, the so-called creatives who sit in their agency’s creative spaces

throwing out creative ideas to colleagues, but it’s a skill that’s needed and required in every role

within the marketing discipline.” (Matt Sttefl and Andrew Rohm)Therefore, creativity isn’t just

coming up with an idea, but it’s pursuing the idea and taking action in making sure it comes to

life.

Next, is “The Google Paradox”. The author’s give factual evidence to show how

creativity allows us to access relevant things that were once a fair amount of hard work, but now

can be accessed with the click of a button or a finger swipe. They were able to show this to be

proven true through a number sequence test posted by Jeopardy. Ken Jennings challenged a

reader to crack a code with the following number sequence, (132 30 210 110 30 210 210 90 210

56 380), and after testing multiple strategies, he became frustrated and decided to google it and

within seconds he was able to find the answer. Thus, the authors were able to prove that although

it may seem like he was cheating himself, the technology helped him “work smarter, not harder”.

(Matt Sttefl and Andrew Rohm) Even though this is true, the ability to search for knowledge

cannot become a substitute for the variations of creativity.

Lastly, we learn that the internet is an effective source for finding solutions, and without

the internet and the tools that it provides, many would be put in jeopardy in certain situations.

Thus, we must exercise our creativity and fluctuate between diverse thinking, specific thinking,

and exploration. To do so, the authors gave us a question to ask ourselves; Have I paused to

exercise my brain and wrestle with possible solutions before looking to the wisdom of the

Internet? (Matt Sttefl and Andrew Rohm) Doing this allows us to rely on our imagination,

intuition, and true creativity that can lead to success.

 I believe that Matt Stefl and Andrew Rohm wrote this essay with not only proven facts

but also from experiencing the differences in using their creativity versus using the internet. Both

authors are educators and businessmen who received their Doctorate of Philosophy, therefore I

believe that they are highly qualified to write on this subject. This paper was written for various

audiences because it relates to anyone who uses technology. I agreed with every single point that

the author’s stated and even though they didn’t specify which side they agreed more with, they

treated the oppositions fairly and provided facts and evidence for both. Some of the information

these doctors used came from scientific experiments, magazine reports, research studies, and

more. This was a very educational and informative article that has persuaded me to focus more,

use my creativity, and stop using technology as a crutch.

Hannah Selders

English 1010: Written Communication I

Dr. Elizabeth Cuddy

Project #3: Rhetorical Analysis

Works Cited Page

Is the Internet killing your creative potential? (2017), Matt Stefl Graziadio Business Review

- https://gbr.pepperdine.edu/2017/04/is-the-internet-killing-your-creative-potential/

Carr, N.G. (2010) The shallows: What the Internet is doing to our brains. New York: W.W.

Norton.

Runco, M.A. and Jaeger, G.J (2012) The standard definition of creativity. Creativity Research

Journal

- https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10400419.2012.650092

Adobe State of Creativity

- https://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pdfs/Adobe_State_of_Create_Global_Be

nchmark_Study.pdf