Beware! A book called Brainchild is to be released this week. In here you will get the impression that indeed role-playing, computer games, Harry Potter etc. make children non-creative. This study is made by some internationally well-known advertising specialists and based on drawings created by children from different countries in the world. They have discovered that children age 8 to 13 are copying mass culture in their drawings.
However this is just to be expected, they are in fact not just copying these figures. They are conveying these images, these archetypes into becoming a part of their life. A part of growing up is assimilating culture and style in order to later in life use these images in their own personal creations. They are not becoming less creative, they are in fact training to become creative.
One of the authors, Martin Lindstrøm, has already named the new generation the Now-Generation, because they expect high interactivity right away. This is certainly not a way of showing these kids any respect. Actually these nerds turn out to be much more absorbed in books, games and other media than any earlier generation. But according to this advertising specialist they are superficial. Well, he should now, what it takes to be superficial.