How Video Games and Social Media Fuel Students’ Passion for Art

The average teenager consumes about 10 hours of media per day according to a Kaiser Family Foundation report, and that’s often through a gadget like smartphone or tablet. But depending on what we choose to focus on, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The same devices that are used to consume art have also allowed students to create on their own, often with little instruction or direction.

This trend of interest-driven art creation comes at a time when public schools are cutting art programming, and it offers a promising new way to reach and mold budding artists. “A lot of times we think we need to have programs that cultivate learning in the art form, but what we are finding is that through the continued production of art, and reflection on it, the kids are actually improving their skills over time,” said Kylie Peppler, assistant professor of learning sciences at Indiana University. She wrote a report for the Wallace Foundation called New Opportunities for Interest Driven Art in a Digital Age. The study finds that even without formal training, self-driven youth are developing the same habits of mind that they would under formal instruction — they just don’t realize they’re doing it. Their creation is spontaneous, self-taught and often quite good.