‘Generative AI invites users to bypass mindfully engaging with the physical act of creating’ this hit me like a bag of fucking bricks, you’re a gem darling
I've been thinking about this again, and I want to expand.
A lot of us look at writing or making art as focused on the end goal. The point seems to be that final, publishable draft, the thing that makes us look at it and say "yeah, that's it! that's the idea, the feeling, i've captured it!"
But in our world of instant gratification, the sense of satisfaction involved with the process is diminished. The actual practice of creating, and learning how to create, has been framed as the thing "keeping" you from reaching the goal. It's almost a punishment - the time and effort is a cost to pay for an end product.
So of course people would try to reduce the time and effort. They think they're saving something by doing it. But the time and effort saved come at the cost of fun and connection and physical satisfaction.
This isn't a surprise. A lot of the things that are "good" for us have been muted and dulled and repackaged for "convenience" or "maturity" or a demonstration of "natural skill."
The easiest comparison I can make is movement. How many of us would look forward to moving if we were playing low-stakes kickball, or taking a walk and chatting with friends, or splashing and laughing in some water? Who remembers Pokemon Go summer, and how people were out and about? And how many of us have ever felt anxious, uncomfortable, or discouraged by the very idea of hopping on a treadmill or going to the gym? For a lot of us (me included) going to the gym feels like working toward a goal, not an actually fun time for its own sake.
Writing, in my experience, can be enjoyable as an action, not just a means to an end. I like writing! I love putting pen to paper, and I love the purple ink I use. I love my dot grid notebook, I love writing in messy cursive and rediscovering my penmanship. I love typing on my computer (except when my E key sticks when I'm typing really fast), and I like using scrivener and figuring out the music for the story I'm working on. I love using a thesaurus to look up just the right word. I love sharing a first draft with my partner, my boyfriend, my friends, and asking them "does that make sense?" so we can all laugh and screech and cackle. I love looking back on some of my writing and saying "what was I thinking????" I love rediscovering some of my favorite lines and saying "yeah, that? that slaps."
When you have generative ai make your process more "efficient," you don't learn what physically feels good about writing. You don't figure out what gives you those warm fuzzies, what makes you smile about your own action. And you deserve to feel good in that way.
