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How craving attention makes you less creative
-
0:01 - 0:04First of all, thank you
for your attention. -
0:05 - 0:08There's nothing quite like
being in a room full of people like this, -
0:08 - 0:11where all of you are giving
your attention to me. -
0:11 - 0:15It's a powerful feeling, to get attention.
-
0:16 - 0:21I'm an actor, so I'm a bit
of an expert on, well, nothing, really. -
0:21 - 0:23(Laughter)
-
0:23 - 0:25But I do know what it feels like
to get attention -- -
0:25 - 0:26I've been lucky in my life
-
0:26 - 0:29to get a lot more
than my fair share of attention. -
0:29 - 0:31And I'm grateful for that,
-
0:31 - 0:33because like I said,
it's a powerful feeling. -
0:35 - 0:37But there's another powerful feeling
-
0:37 - 0:41that I've also been lucky
to experience a lot as an actor. -
0:41 - 0:43And it's funny, it's sort of
the opposite feeling, -
0:43 - 0:46because it doesn't come
from getting attention. -
0:46 - 0:48It comes from paying attention.
-
0:49 - 0:51When I'm acting,
-
0:51 - 0:55I get so focused that I'm only
paying attention to one thing, -
0:55 - 0:58like when I'm on set
and we're about to shoot -
0:58 - 1:01and the first AD calls out "Rolling!"
-
1:01 - 1:03And then I hear "speed," "marker," "set,"
-
1:03 - 1:06and then the director calls "Action!"
-
1:06 - 1:08I've heard that sequence so many times,
-
1:08 - 1:12like, it's become this Pavlovian
magic spell for me. -
1:12 - 1:15"Rolling," "speed," "marker,"
"set" and "action." -
1:15 - 1:18Something happens to me,
I can't even help it. -
1:18 - 1:20My attention ...
-
1:21 - 1:23narrows.
-
1:23 - 1:25And everything else in the world,
-
1:25 - 1:30anything else that might be bothering me
or might grab my attention, -
1:30 - 1:35it all goes away, and I just am there.
-
1:36 - 1:41And that feeling, that is what I love,
-
1:41 - 1:42that, to me, is creativity,
-
1:42 - 1:45and that's the biggest reason
I'm so grateful that I get to be an actor. -
1:46 - 1:50So, there's these two powerful feelings.
-
1:50 - 1:53There's getting attention
and paying attention. -
1:54 - 1:56Of course, in the last decade or so,
-
1:56 - 1:58new technology has allowed
more and more people -
1:58 - 2:02to have this powerful feeling
of getting attention. -
2:02 - 2:05For any kind of creative
expression, not just acting. -
2:05 - 2:08It could be writing or photography
or drawing, music -- everything. -
2:08 - 2:12The channels of distribution
have been democratized, -
2:12 - 2:13and that's a good thing.
-
2:15 - 2:18But I do think there's
an unintended consequence -
2:18 - 2:23for anybody on the planet
with an urge to be creative. -
2:23 - 2:27Myself included,
because I'm not immune to this. -
2:27 - 2:30I think that our creativity
-
2:30 - 2:34is becoming more and more
of a means to an end. -
2:35 - 2:38And that end is to get attention.
-
2:40 - 2:41And so I feel compelled to speak up,
-
2:41 - 2:44because in my experience,
-
2:44 - 2:47the more I go after that powerful
feeling of paying attention, -
2:47 - 2:49the happier I am.
-
2:50 - 2:55But the more I go after
the powerful feeling of getting attention, -
2:55 - 2:56the unhappier I am.
-
2:56 - 2:57(One person claps)
-
2:58 - 3:00And -- thanks.
-
3:00 - 3:02(Laughter)
-
3:02 - 3:06(Applause)
-
3:06 - 3:09So this is something
that goes way back for me. -
3:09 - 3:14I think the first time I can remember
using my acting to get attention, -
3:14 - 3:17I was eight years old at summer camp.
-
3:17 - 3:20And I'd been going on auditions
for about a year by then, -
3:20 - 3:22and I'd been lucky to get some small parts
-
3:22 - 3:24in TV shows and commercials,
-
3:24 - 3:29and I bragged about it a lot,
that summer at camp. -
3:29 - 3:31And at first, it worked.
-
3:31 - 3:34The other kids gave me
bunch of extra attention, -
3:34 - 3:36because I had been on "Family Ties."
-
3:37 - 3:38That's a picture of me on "Family Ties."
-
3:38 - 3:39(Laughter)
-
3:40 - 3:41Then, the tide turned --
-
3:41 - 3:43I think I took it too far
with the bragging. -
3:43 - 3:47And then, the other kids
started to make fun of me. -
3:48 - 3:52I remember there was this one girl
I had a crush on, Rocky. -
3:53 - 3:55Her name was Rachel, she went by Rocky.
-
3:55 - 3:58And she was beautiful and she could sing,
-
3:58 - 4:01and I was smitten with her
and I was standing there, bragging. -
4:02 - 4:04And she turned to me
and she called me a show-off. -
4:05 - 4:07Which I 100 percent deserved.
-
4:07 - 4:09But you know, it still really hurt.
-
4:10 - 4:12And ever since that summer,
-
4:12 - 4:17I've had a certain hesitance
to seek attention for my acting. -
4:18 - 4:19Sometimes, people would ask me,
-
4:19 - 4:22"Wait a minute,
if you don't like the attention, -
4:22 - 4:23then why are you an actor?"
-
4:23 - 4:24And I'd be like,
-
4:24 - 4:27"Because that's not what acting's about,
man, it's about the art." -
4:27 - 4:29They'd be like, "OK, dude."
-
4:29 - 4:31(Laughter)
-
4:31 - 4:33And then Twitter came out.
-
4:33 - 4:36And I got totally hooked on it,
just like everybody else, -
4:36 - 4:38which made me into a complete hypocrite.
-
4:38 - 4:39Because at that point,
-
4:39 - 4:42I was absolutely using my acting
to get attention. -
4:42 - 4:45I mean, what, did I think
I was just getting all these followers -
4:45 - 4:47because of my brilliant tweets?
-
4:48 - 4:50I actually did think that -- I was like --
-
4:50 - 4:51(Laughter)
-
4:51 - 4:53"They don't just like me
because they saw me in 'Batman,' -
4:54 - 4:56they like what I have to say,
I've got a way with words." -
4:56 - 4:58(Laughter)
-
4:58 - 4:59And then in no time at all,
-
4:59 - 5:04it started having an impact
on my dearly beloved creative process. -
5:05 - 5:06It still does.
-
5:06 - 5:07I try not to let it.
-
5:07 - 5:11But you know, I'd be sitting there,
like, reading a script. -
5:11 - 5:13And instead of thinking,
-
5:13 - 5:16"How can I personally identify
with this character," -
5:16 - 5:19or "How is the audience
going to relate to this story," -
5:19 - 5:22I'm like, "What are people going to say
about this movie on Twitter?" -
5:22 - 5:23and "What will I say back
-
5:23 - 5:26that will be good and snarky enough
to get a lot of retweets, -
5:26 - 5:27but not too harsh,
-
5:27 - 5:31because people love to get offended,
and I don't want to get canceled." -
5:31 - 5:33These are the thoughts that enter my mind
-
5:33 - 5:36when I'm supposed to be reading a script,
trying to be an artist. -
5:36 - 5:37And I'm not here to tell you
-
5:37 - 5:40that technology
is the enemy of creativity. -
5:40 - 5:41I don't think that.
-
5:41 - 5:42I think tech is just a tool.
-
5:42 - 5:46It has the potential to foster
unprecedented human creativity. -
5:46 - 5:50Like, I even started
an online community called HITRECORD, -
5:50 - 5:51where people all over the world
-
5:51 - 5:54collaborate on all kinds
of creative projects, -
5:54 - 5:59so I don't think that social media
or smartphones or any technology -
5:59 - 6:01is problematic in and of itself.
-
6:03 - 6:04But ...
-
6:05 - 6:07if we're going to talk
about the perils of creativity -
6:07 - 6:10becoming a means to get attention,
-
6:10 - 6:14then we have to talk about
the attention-driven business model -
6:14 - 6:16of today's big social media
companies, right? -
6:16 - 6:19(Applause)
-
6:19 - 6:22This will be familiar territory
for some of you, -
6:22 - 6:24but it's a really relevant question here:
-
6:24 - 6:25How does a social media platform,
-
6:25 - 6:28like, for example, Instagram, make money?
-
6:29 - 6:31It's not selling
a photo-sharing service -- -
6:31 - 6:32that part's free.
-
6:32 - 6:33So what is it selling?
-
6:33 - 6:34It's selling attention.
-
6:34 - 6:37It's selling the attention
of its users to advertisers. -
6:37 - 6:39And there's a lot of discussion right now
-
6:39 - 6:43about how much attention we're all giving
to things like Instagram, -
6:43 - 6:44but my question is,
-
6:44 - 6:47how is Instagram getting
so much attention? -
6:48 - 6:49We get it for them.
-
6:50 - 6:53Anytime somebody posts on Instagram,
-
6:53 - 6:56they get a certain amount of attention
from their followers, -
6:56 - 6:59whether they have a few followers
or a few million followers. -
6:59 - 7:02And the more attention you're able to get,
-
7:02 - 7:05the more attention
Instagram is able to sell. -
7:05 - 7:07So it's in Instagram's interest
-
7:07 - 7:10for you to get as much
attention as possible. -
7:10 - 7:14And so it trains you
to want that attention, -
7:14 - 7:17to crave it, to feel stressed out
when you're getting enough of it. -
7:18 - 7:22Instagram gets its users addicted
-
7:22 - 7:25to the powerful feeling
of getting attention. -
7:26 - 7:29And I know we all joke, like,
"Oh my God, I'm so addicted to my phone," -
7:29 - 7:31but this is a real addiction.
-
7:31 - 7:33There's a whole science to it.
-
7:33 - 7:35If you're curious, I recommend
the work of Jaron Lanier, -
7:36 - 7:38Tristan Harris, Nir Eyal.
-
7:39 - 7:40But here's what I can tell you.
-
7:41 - 7:43Being addicted to getting attention
-
7:43 - 7:46is just like being addicted
to anything else. -
7:46 - 7:47It's never enough.
-
7:48 - 7:50You start out and you're thinking,
-
7:50 - 7:54"If only I had 1,000 followers,
that would feel amazing." -
7:54 - 7:57But then you're like, "Well,
once I get to 10,000 followers," -
7:57 - 7:59and, "Once I get to 100 --
-
7:59 - 8:04Once I get to a million followers,
then I'll feel amazing." -
8:06 - 8:09So I have 4.2 million
followers on Twitter -- -
8:09 - 8:11it's never made me feel amazing.
-
8:11 - 8:14I'm not going to tell you
how many I have on Instagram, -
8:14 - 8:17because I feel genuine shame
about how low the number is, -
8:17 - 8:20because I joined Instagram
after "Batman" came out. -
8:20 - 8:24(Laughter)
-
8:24 - 8:25And I search other actors,
-
8:25 - 8:27and I see that their number
is higher than mine, -
8:27 - 8:30and it makes me feel
terrible about myself. -
8:30 - 8:33Because the follower count
-
8:33 - 8:35makes everybody feel terrible
about themselves. -
8:35 - 8:38That feeling of inadequacy
is what drives you to post, -
8:38 - 8:40so you can get more attention,
-
8:40 - 8:43and then that attention that you get
is what these companies sell, -
8:43 - 8:45that's how they make their money.
-
8:46 - 8:50So there is no amount
of attention you can get -
8:50 - 8:52where you feel like you've arrived,
-
8:52 - 8:55and you're like, "Ah, I'm good now."
-
8:56 - 9:00And of course, there are a lot of actors
who are more famous than I am, -
9:00 - 9:01have more followers than I do,
-
9:01 - 9:04but I bet you they would tell you
the same thing. -
9:04 - 9:09If your creativity is driven
by a desire to get attention, -
9:09 - 9:11you're never going to be
creatively fulfilled. -
9:13 - 9:16But I do have some good news.
-
9:16 - 9:19There is this other powerful feeling.
-
9:20 - 9:22Something else you can do
with your attention -
9:22 - 9:25besides letting a giant tech company
control it and sell it. -
9:26 - 9:28This is that feeling I was talking about,
-
9:28 - 9:30why I love acting so much --
-
9:30 - 9:34it's being able to pay attention
to just one thing. -
9:35 - 9:38Turns out there's actually
some science behind this too. -
9:38 - 9:40Psychologists and neuroscientists --
-
9:40 - 9:43they study a phenomenon they call flow,
-
9:43 - 9:45which is this thing that happens
in the human brain -
9:45 - 9:47when someone pays attention
to just one thing, -
9:47 - 9:49like something creative,
-
9:49 - 9:52and manages not to get distracted
by anything else. -
9:53 - 9:57And some say the more regularly
you do this, the happier you'll be. -
9:58 - 10:02Now I'm not a psychologist
or a neuroscientist. -
10:02 - 10:05But I can tell you,
for me, that is very true. -
10:05 - 10:08It's not always easy, it's hard.
-
10:08 - 10:10To really pay attention
like this takes practice, -
10:10 - 10:12everybody does it their own way.
-
10:12 - 10:14But if there's one thing I can share
-
10:14 - 10:18that I think helps me focus
and really pay attention, it's this: -
10:19 - 10:24I try not to see other creative
people as my competitors. -
10:24 - 10:26I try to find collaborators.
-
10:26 - 10:29Like, if I'm acting in a scene,
-
10:29 - 10:32if I start seeing the other actors
as my competitors, and I'm like, -
10:32 - 10:34"God, they're going to get
more attention than I am, -
10:34 - 10:38people are going to be talking
about their performance more than mine" -- -
10:38 - 10:39I've lost my focus.
-
10:39 - 10:41And I'm probably
going to suck in that scene. -
10:41 - 10:45But when I see the other actors
as collaborators, -
10:45 - 10:49then it becomes almost easy to focus,
-
10:49 - 10:52because I'm just paying attention to them.
-
10:53 - 10:55And I don't have to think
about what I'm doing -- -
10:55 - 10:56I react to what they're doing,
-
10:56 - 10:58they react to what I'm doing,
-
10:58 - 11:00and we can kind of
keep each other in it together. -
11:01 - 11:03But I don't want you to think
it's only actors on a set -
11:03 - 11:05that can collaborate in this way.
-
11:05 - 11:07I could be in whatever
kind of creative situation. -
11:07 - 11:10It could be professional,
could be just for fun. -
11:11 - 11:15I could be collaborating with people
I'm not even in the same room with. -
11:15 - 11:17In fact, some of my favorite
things I've ever made, -
11:17 - 11:19I made with people
that I never physically met. -
11:19 - 11:20And by the way,
-
11:21 - 11:23this, to me, is the beauty
of the internet. -
11:23 - 11:27If we could just stop
competing for attention, -
11:27 - 11:30then the internet becomes
a great place to find collaborators. -
11:31 - 11:36And once I'm collaborating
with other people, -
11:36 - 11:39whether they're on set,
or online, wherever, -
11:40 - 11:43that makes it so much easier
for me to find that flow, -
11:43 - 11:45because we're all just paying attention
-
11:45 - 11:48to the one thing
that we're making together -
11:48 - 11:52and I fell like I'm part
of something larger than myself, -
11:52 - 11:54and we all sort of shield each other
-
11:54 - 11:57from anything else that might
otherwise grab our attention, -
11:57 - 12:02and we can all just be there.
-
12:04 - 12:06At least that's what works for me.
-
12:07 - 12:09Sometimes.
-
12:09 - 12:11Sometimes -- it doesn't always work.
-
12:11 - 12:14Sometimes, I still totally get
wrapped up in that addictive cycle -
12:14 - 12:15of wanting to get attention.
-
12:15 - 12:17I mean, like, even right now,
-
12:17 - 12:21can I honestly say there's not
some part of me here who's like, -
12:21 - 12:24"Hey, everybody, look at me,
I'm giving a TED talk!" -
12:24 - 12:25(Laughter)
-
12:25 - 12:28There is -- there's, you know, some part.
-
12:29 - 12:30But I can also honestly say
-
12:30 - 12:34that this whole creative process
of writing and giving this talk, -
12:34 - 12:37it's been a huge opportunity
for me to focus -
12:37 - 12:40and really pay attention to something
I care a lot about. -
12:41 - 12:46So regardless of how much attention
I do or don't get as a result, -
12:46 - 12:48I'm happy I did it.
-
12:48 - 12:52And I'm grateful to all of you
for letting me. -
12:53 - 12:55So thank you, that's it,
-
12:55 - 12:57you can give your attention
to someone else now. -
12:57 - 12:58Thanks again.
-
12:58 - 13:02(Applause)
- Title:
- How craving attention makes you less creative
- Speaker:
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt
- Description:
-
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 13:15
Oliver Friedman edited English subtitles for How craving attention makes you less creative | ||
Brian Greene approved English subtitles for How craving attention makes you less creative | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for How craving attention makes you less creative | ||
Krystian Aparta accepted English subtitles for How craving attention makes you less creative | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for How craving attention makes you less creative | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for How craving attention makes you less creative | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for How craving attention makes you less creative | ||
Ivana Korom edited English subtitles for How craving attention makes you less creative |
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