Do people lose some of their creativity as they get older?

Question

...if so, why?

Answer 1

It depends on the type of creativity. Most genius peak by age 26, including Einstein.

No-one could argue that artists like Dali lose their creative edge. As they age they have more experience to draw from.

Answer 2

Why don't you ask Vincent Van Gogh? He never even painted until toward the end of his life, and even then he just wanted some inexpensive decorations for his house. He never considered himself a creative artist, though we do today.

No, nobody loses creativity because they age. People might tend to get lazier, or more interested in holding on to comforts than finding inspiration. That could cause a person to be less creative, but age is no handicap. In fact, the experience that comes with age can only help a creative person to be even better at whatever it is they do.

Answer 3

Some people do because they begin to think they need a 'good' reason to do something creative in the first place. The ideas may still be there but they won't act on them anymore. If you start wondering what the point is then you stop bothering to do things.

Answer 4

No. I think a truly creative person simply fine tunes his or her creativity. Look at W.B. Yeats--in his early years, he was imaginative, and used mythological imagery and fancies. When he got older, his poetry became more focused and he wrote about real things... not just an abstract concept, but pure, real examples of nationalism.

We just become more real to things, and apply our creativity that way. I'm not sure if his poetry in his later years was necessarily better or worse. Technically speaking, he was more well-spoken and he fine tuned his talent.

Answer 5

When you're little the sky's the limit! You can do anything because no one's told you that you can't yet. You don't know the "rules". When you get older society, well, socializes you; you conform to your society's absolutes. Creativity takes a bit of hit when your not supposed to believe in unicorns and wangdoodles anymore. You just need to excercise your imagination every once in a while to keep it running!

Answer 6

We don't have to lose our creativity, but the older we get, the more we need to nurture it. I don't think it has so much to do with age as it has to do with increasing time pressures on us. Creativity takes time away to reflect and that's in such short supply nowadays!

Answer 7

Absolutely not. I was creative as a youngster but as the years passed by, I became more educated, more experienced and more worldly. It helped me be MORE creative and I get better every year! I'm a professional fine artist, illustrator, writer, editor, sculptor, craftsman, jewellery-maker, photographer and toymaker.

Answer 8

Old people do not lose their creativity, not all of them anyway. I am 77 and just as ambitious and full of new ideas as ever. I have just bought a old church and turning it into a youth center, havin fun. Many sit back and enjoy what they have created, how's that?

Answer 9

Kids use thier imagination constantly. That has a tendency to stop as we get older.

Answer 10

only if they don't use it and be creative. I read a good quote once: We don't stop playing because we get old; we get old because we stop playing.