Many people consider Fyodor Dostoyevsky the greatest novelist and artist innovator of all times. Can you imagine where or how he found inspiration to be so creative?
“Poverty and misery form the artist” – Dostoyevsky had difficult times since his childhood. Nothing was easy for him. He didn’t have parents’ support. Later, due his convictions and utopic dreams, he was sentenced and condemned to death but at the last moment, a russian emperor changed that to a sentence of four years’ hard labor in Siberia. Much more on this sense could be mentioned but let’s stop here. Instead of staying mad or depressed, he used all those experiences to dive deep in the human’s soul.
Now, back to the initial question. Why Dostoyevsky would not use an iPad? Perhaps, because he usually swam against the tide. He wasn’t following the crowd. In addition, an iPad isn’t cheap and Fiodor has learned how difficult was get money and especially how easy is to spend it. In addition, he knew what means get addicted to something. He was an addicted to gambling which led him to financial hardship. At this point, you probably are wondering: which the correlation here? I’ve seen a lot of people in different countries and different places like: metro, bus, airplanes, restaurants, beaches, business meetings, homes with families and friends, and everywhere else using their iPad basically to play games. Look these statistics data from 2014:
- 58% of Americans play video games
- Average age of players: 30
- 62% of all gamers are adults
- 68% are above 18 and older
- 45% are female (up from 42% in 2012) and are usually over 18
Last but not least: 43% of tablet owners spend more time with their tablets than their TVs or PCs, and 84% of tablet owners spend most of their time playing games on it.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against games (I play XBOX occasionally) neither tablet (I have a Windows 8.1) but I cannot imagine Dostoyevsky wasting time on an iPad or any other tablet just with games. Can you imagine that? Living in Siberia taught him a lesson about permafrost. If you don’t want your brain suffers from permafrost then you must use it a lot. Suddenly, the ‘game of life’ may end. Before an unexpected ‘game over’, think about how to use wisely your tablet or any other cutting-edge device to enrich your life and others. How to do that? One of the ways is stop freezing your eyes and mind on your tablet but look ahead and around then try put in practice his words: “We sometimes encounter people, even perfect strangers, who begin to interest us at first sight, somehow suddenly, all at once, before a word has been spoken.”
Creativity and innovation are intrinsically related to human beings’ interactions and observations.
Do not iPad yourself thus; suddenly Dostoyevsky will make more sense for you.
Author: Alexandre Marins Augusto E-mail: writer@alemarins.com
August Alexander 