Technology is ruining everything and making it better all at the same time.  People in the creative fields are undoubtedly starting to notice an exuberant amount of amateurs invading their market share.  Just as technology has drastically changed the way we socialize and communicate, its also blurred the already thin line between professional and amateur artistic expression.  Advancements in technology have successfully taken out much of the classical training, finances, and grunt work that previously served as the gap between professional and novice.

For instance, in the field of photography, what used to require an expensive camera, understanding of lighting and depth, and even once the ability to develop film in a dark room, can now all be done with a few clicks of a button on the iPhone and filters on Instagram (follow us @mixologi).  Film making has become easier than ever with the ironically named GoPro cameras, retailing at only $300, giving anyone the ability to get extremely high quality HD video in a portable camera no bigger than your fist.  The DJ community is in an internal battle where traditional DJs who previously carried around crates of records and had to posses an advanced ability to blend songs, are now up against MP3’s and Seratos, which literally puts an numeric value on the speed of beats and gives the user the ability to digitally know which songs match, even without ever hearing them.  Yelp! has turned everyone into a food critic, Facebook is birthing political commentators, and Garage Band is spawning a whole generation of music producers who literally don’t even know how to read music.  Writers, who have spent years and literally hundreds of thousands of dollars on college graduate degrees, are now competing with bloggers (like myself) who can’t write a sentence without spellcheck and a thesaurus.

This has of course lead to an enormous amount of backlash, and created the inevitable clash between traditionalist and modernist.  On one hand it’s actually allowed folks who wouldn’t otherwise have had access to explore their untapped creative potential to do so.  But on the other its seemingly cheapening each respective art form, and pissing off a bunch of already struggling artists who are having a hard enough time as it is, making a living and gaining respect.

But the net beneficiary in all of this is PROGRESS.  By giving the average person the ability to compete in these fields, it forces the artist to hone in on their craft in order to reiterate the separation between certified and beginner.  Its true that it’s becoming harder for the naked eye/ear to make what used to be an easy distinction between novice and expert, but at the end of the day, the best of the best is always going to standout, so I’m fine with that.  Furthermore, it gives great perspective and a lot more respect for historical products of creativity, which were created with vastly subpar tools, yet often still better than its predecessors.

What I would say to anyone who is worried about getting flushed out of his or her practice by the advent of modern technology? If you don’t like it, work harder!