That is just shit we keep telling ourselves. You might even point to me studies, but those are just reflection of what we have conditioned ourselves to believe. Frankly this is how we end up with 70 hr work week or pressured into trying to build that app that no one needs or wants. Because reading a book or running around with your kid being silly is not “productive”.

Ideally you wouldn't have to be creating something you don't care about at your day job at 40-60/h/w, but instead could spend all your creative time on something you really care about, and doing it to benefit you and your peers instead of primarily just shareholders, and the rest of your time reading a good book, and being silly with your kid.

However in the modern world, those things are mostly pushed aside, and instead most people in the modern world spend most of their waking hours as hamsters in a wheel.

Then there's the middleground where you try to do both. That's where most people burn out.

To be fair creating something that has to resemble someone else's vision feels very different from creating something that you envision yourself.

Finding balance is important and apart from that I guess not everyone likes creating stuff equally.

(Edit: grammar lol)

I found reading your comment satisfying, in my personal experience. Why should anyone create anything if consuming it is undersatisfying?

So, to max it out, one should possibly consume while creating?

That's great news. I often consume while making art!

On a more serious note, though, these simply aren't the same thing and they both have their places in life. Who am I to say that laughing at a youtube reading off reddit comments isn't as satisfying as making art? It is hard to tell because these sorts of things fill different slots.

I'll add that the fluff I consume (alongside the more serious learning stuff) honestly helps the creating bit. I get ideas I might not get on my own if I simply created. This is really part of the reason why folks say drugs help their creativity: It makes connections they might not have made otherwise (and why LSD has helped us in sciences among other things). The more ideas and knowledge one has - even low quality ones - the more one has to draw from to create with.