"Research strongly suggests that people are more creative when they enjoy privacy and freedom from interruption. And the most spectacularly creative people in many fields are often introverted. (...) They’re extroverted enough to exchange and advance ideas, but see themselves as independent and individualistic. (...) Introverts are comfortable working alone — and solitude is a catalyst to innovation. (...) The New Groupthink has overtaken our workplaces, our schools (...) In one fourth-grade classroom I visited in New York City, students engaged in group work were forbidden to ask a question unless every member of the group had the very same question. (...) Privacy also makes us productive. (...) What distinguished programmers at the top-performing companies wasn’t greater experience or better pay. It was how much privacy, personal workspace and freedom from interruption they enjoyed. (...)" - Amira

"Brainstorming sessions are one of the worst possible ways to stimulate creativity. (...) Decades of research show that individuals almost always perform better than groups in both quality and quantity, and group performance gets worse as group size increases. (...) The one important exception to this dismal record is electronic brainstorming, where large groups outperform individuals; and the larger the group the better. The protection of the screen mitigates many problems of group work. This is why the Internet has yielded such wondrous collective creations. Marcel Proust called reading a “miracle of communication in the midst of solitude,” and that’s what the Internet is, too. It’s a place where we can be alone together — and this is precisely what gives it power. (...)" - Amira