I agree. I went back to pen and paper last year, just for thinking 'out loud' about problems and I could not believe how much it improved the quality of my programming.
I think he used laptops as metaphor for web (social networks, blogs, etc). There are so many ideas but none of them is yours. The more your mind is surrounded with other people ideas, the harder it is to come up with something original and fresh.
Actually, I experience something of the opposite. Other people's work falls into place in my own work. Forcing me to learn new things from them and that in itself is as important as being creative. Also, the stimulation of being with highly creative people in itself is something of a rush. It just makes me happy to see other people create and succeed.
That said I believe there is a fine line between aping someone and getting inspired by someone, and that is something you have to navigate on your own. I don't know why, but I always think about Steve Jobs ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW0DUg63lqU) whenever I face something like this. It's like a metric. What can I learn from this which applied to my work makes it great?
To me 'not from our laptops' signifies that we should not jump to developing a solution immediately. For e.g. first you should think about the problem and work out a solution in your mind (you could use a pen and paper or a black/white board for help). Once you think you have a feasible answer you could open your laptop and either write down your document or in case you where thinking about a software solution bring up your IDE.
Main goal should be to think up a solution and then try them out on your laptop.
- Interruption kills creativity.
- To be creative, you have to create a kind of oasis in your life. Boundaries of space and boundaries of time.