By G. Laprise 

Publié le 16 juin 2026

“It's a double-edged sword,” said Caroline Fillion, a multidisciplinary artist and art teacher at Collège d’Alma [Translation]. 

The internet and technologies like artificial intelligence can be a powerful tool in the artistic field, but they are also the reason why Generation Z struggles to create its own art in today’s world.  

Creativity is declining among Generation Z due to the digital world because it reduces the brain's capabilities, it alternates the vision, and because algorithms influence their thoughts. 

In today’s world, young people are obsessed with efficiency and speed, which leads them to choose the quickest and easiest solution to do their works. Now, when it comes to finding ideas, correcting essay errors, or even summarizing key points, Generation Z automatically use artificial intelligence for rapidity. However, as Norman Sandridge explains in Daryl R. Thomas Jr.’s essay, finding our own mistakes and ideas helps with the creative process, but AI shortcuts this step.  

Therefore, using the artificial intelligence to do these important tasks reduces efforts to practice the critical thinking, which leads to a risk of cognitive atrophy. The decline of this brain capability means that Generation Z uses less their critical thinking and, consequently, they do not develop their creativity. 

Phone use in general can also harm the creativity of Gen Z. I interviewed Caroline Fillion, my art teacher, about the creativity of Generation Z and she shared with me an observation she made. She noticed that people have now more difficulties to see the world in 3D, since they are more exposed to 2D images. Phone and other technologies alternate the vision of Gen Z because screens flatten everything they display. The images they offer are necessarily 2D, which gets the eyes used to this vision, and makes perceiving the real world in 3D more difficult for its users.  

CAroline Fillion gave me an example of how much it impacts the creativity and vision of her students. She asked them to draw all possible faces of an object. However, most students were unable to imagine what it would look like in 3D, even when they had it in front of them. Still, when they took a picture of it, they were suddenly able to draw it, because the picture showed it in 2D.  

Furthermore, algorithms play a big part in the creativity of Generation Z. Algorithms have for goals to keep users on the platforms for as long as possible. Therefore, they analyse users’ interests to show them content that will captivate them. The problem is that it influences their way of thinking, since it makes their perception of the world biased. As I have experienced, my algorithm informs me on what I like, but I know nothing about the sad things that are happening elsewhere in the world.  Creativity is a blend of the happy and sad emotions we experience. If Generation Z only sees the same content that makes them happy, they do not experience the negative emotions. Consequently, their creativity is reduced, because their algorithms do not encourage them to discover new things. 

In conclusion, Generation Z is losing its creativity due to the way technologies are used because it leads to cognitive atrophy, changes their vision, and influence their minds.  

It is crucial that Generation Z starts to realize the seriousness of the loss of its creativity, because if the development of creativity continues to decline, soon technology will eventually stagnate, since no one will be able to imagine new things to improve the world.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Daryl R., T JR. (s. d.). Gen Z Risks Losing Its Creativity to AI. The Hilltop. https://thehilltoponline.com/2025/09/22/gen-z-risks-losing-its-creativity-to-ai/ 

The author highlights how AI can harm the creativity of Generation Z. 

 Lee, H-P. Drosos, I. Sarkar, A. Rintel, S. Wilson, N. Tankelevitch, L. et Banks, R. (February 19, 2025). Impact de l’IA générative sur la « pensée critique ». UQAM. https://collimateur.uqam.ca/collimateur/impact-de-lia-generative-sur-la-pensee-critique/ 

The authors examine the impact of generative AI on critical thinking. 

Varoquier, J. (June 18, 2025). TikTok, un piège quasiment parfait. Eureka. https://eureka-alma.proxy.collecto.ca/Link/calma/news%c2%b720250618%c2%b7PJ%c2%b7abdfe3ff2e882dc53e4251f3ebab91924a3377ca 

Jila Varoquier Investigates on the psychological effects of TikTok on minors. 

Alex. (February 10, 2018). Exploring how 3D images are displayed on 2D screens. Flinders University. https://hoverflyvision.weebly.com/blog/exploring-how-3d-images-are-displayed-on-2d-screens 

The author describes how it is possible to simulate 3D images on 2D screens.

Zwirner, D. (May 22, 2020). Art Is How We Justify Our Existence. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/22/opinion/david-zwirner-museums-coronavirus.html 

David Zwirner outlines that art is how we explain our existence.