Digital Creation in a Tap-and-Swipe World

For many years I was always being asked the following question: "Hey, I need a new laptop… would anything you've got suit me?"

People knew I was a hoarder of old tech, particularly laptops. There might be something in my collection I'd be willing to sell them, or even give away.

This went on for years. And then it stopped almost completely, in around 2019 or so.

Recently, I sold my cousin an old MacBook Pro for her teenage daughter's birthday.

In the days and weeks that followed, I anticipated the usual flood of questions about the oddities of MacOS. How to do the forwards-delete thing? How to right-click? Etc.

Silence. Not a single question.

All I've heard is that the MacBook Pro (of the much-beloved 2015 vintage) has been switched on and all is working fine.

Months later now, it's pretty obvious that my cousin's teenage daughter isn't using the MacBook Pro at all.

The Times Have Changed

This episode reflects a fundamental shift in our relationship with technology.

Today's digital landscape is dominated by sleek, intuitive touchscreen devices that prioritize consumption over creation.

Tap, swipe, scroll, repeat: the dominant interaction model has transformed us into consumers rather than creators.

The Consumption-Creation Imbalance

Modern smartphone interfaces excel at one thing: delivering content. 

Social media feeds, video platforms, news aggregators. All are designed for frictionless consumption. What they don't encourage is the creation, manipulation, or understanding of digital systems.

The shift toward consumption-oriented computing has led to the atrophy of digital creation skills that used to be considered pretty common.

Basic HTML/CSS understanding: Once considered fundamental knowledge for anyone creating content online, these skills are increasingly rare among younger users who have never needed to modify code to customize their digital presence. Okay, maybe this one was always more rare than I think it was.

File management: Not this one, though. Try asking a youngster to navigate through a file system these days. Cloud storage and search functionality have made deliberate file organization optional. Many users no longer understand directory structures or file hierarchies.

Data organization: Spreadsheets and databases were once common tools for personal information management. Today, many users lack even basic data structuring skills, relying instead on pre-built apps for specific functions.

Customization and configuration: The ability to modify settings, personalize environments, and optimize systems for specific needs is becoming a specialized skill rather than everyday knowledge.

Computers as we know them are on their way out. They might not even survive as work tools if AI develops as it seems inevitable it's going to.

When a human-like intelligence resides on every workstation, all you need to do is tell it what you want.

In many ways this is something to be celebrated. The various family members, friends and colleagues that I'm whining about in this article may never have to worry about finding a file or a setting ever again. There'll be an intelligent system that knows what they want and will find it for them. They might not even have to ask.

I still don't like it, though. I feel like a steam power enthusiast watching the first electricity pylons going up and telling myself: it's a bubble, it's a bubble, it's a bubble…

Damn those Electricity Bros!

The Psychological Shift: "There's an App for That"

Perhaps more significant than the technical skills gap is the psychological shift that has occurred.

Earlier computer users approached technology with a "I can figure this out" or "I can build this" mindset. Today's dominant attitude is "there's an app for that."

This represents a fundamental change in agency. Users increasingly see themselves as consumers of technology rather than potential creators or modifiers.

When my cousin's daughter received that MacBook Pro, she likely approached it not as a tool for creation but as another consumption device . Albeit one less optimized for that purpose than her smartphone.

Her new computer's potential as a creation platform may have gone completely unconsidered and unexplored.

The Workplace Impact

This shift has profound implications for workplaces. Businesses increasingly report employees who can operate digital tools but struggle to adapt them to new circumstances, or troubleshoot the most basic issues when they arise.

The result is a growing dependence on specialized IT support for tasks that previous generations of workers could handle independently. Beyond the efficiency implications, this dependence creates a two-tiered workforce: those who can manipulate digital systems and those who can merely operate within their constraints.

From Consumers to Creators: A Path Forward

Reversing this trend neeeds deliberate effort on multiple fronts:

• Emphasize creation over consumption: Introduce creative digital projects early in education and home environments. Start simple. Customize a profile. Modifying a template. Organize information in a spreadsheet.
• Make the invisible visible: Look for opportunities to reveal what happens "behind the scenes" in digital interactions. Explain how data moves from one place to another, how information is stored and retrieved.
• Celebrate digital agency: Reinforce the idea that technology is meant to be shaped to individual needs rather than accepted as-is.
• Start with problems, not tools: Focus on solving real problems, then introduce the appropriate creation tools. Context gives meaning to skills that might otherwise seem abstract or unnecessary.

The silence from my cousin and her daughter about the experience with her "new" old MacBook reflects a larger silence.

It's  the shift from a creation-oriented computing culture to one dominated by consumption.

Bridging the gap isn't just about technical skills. It's about reclaiming our agency in an increasingly digital world - where the desire even to do so is conspicuously lacking.