Is creativity dying?

Something I have been noticing a lot lately is there appears to be a trend toward the mundane with photography. It hasn’t been just one source, but rather many. Every day, I browse through a variety of websites looking at photography. I do this just to see what others may be doing, looking for things that will inspire me to be more creative. My intent is not to copy but rather develop my own concepts by viewing the creativity of others.

What really brought this to the forefront for me was there were a few of the so-called go-to sites that have always inspired me. For the past few weeks though, I have found myself scrolling and scrolling through these sites finding nothing but boring, un-interesting photographs. I mean photographs that I can’t move to the next fast enough. It is estimated that we spend between 15 and 30 seconds viewing a piece of art in a museum. I conducted a rough estimate of the time I spent viewing new photographs submitted to one of my go-to photography-sharing websites which previously was chocked full of wonderful pieces of work. I was spending, roughly, 1 to 2 seconds viewing images. Not just a handful of images but pages and pages. Even if I go to the popular photographs as voted by the visitors I see a significant percentage that appears to be popular merely because they include a scantly dressed or nude woman.

Is creativity dying? Is it because we are in the instant gratification of digital photography surrounded by one-click presets? Is it because we wish to follow what appears to be the popular trends set by others? Is it because we have become used to being told what to think and believe? I am not sure of the reasons behind this but I do believe we, as artists, need to go back to creating and inspiring the world around us. We need to get back to innovating rather than merely regurgitating what is popular and trendy. If not I fear that we will move back to the realm of boring and unimaginative photography.