So, Is the Online World Really Killing Empathy?
It seems constantly repeated that the Internet and online world has decreased our ability to be civil, to empathize, to even coexist. Has our capacity to empathize been disconnected, diminished? These are questions the Internet has dealt with for years as we witness the growth of social media and our time online coupled with the good and bad that it brings out in all of humanity. There seems to be a general consensus and belief that the Internet is killing empathy. In my own experiences, when I tell people about this project, the response tends towards a snarky “good luck with that,” response, implying empathy can not be found or does not exist in the online worlds.
Surely, there are plenty of reasons for this belief, and plenty of examples of how empathy is being killed online. In this article in 2011, the authors ask the very question: Is The Internet Killing Empathy? In another example, way back in 2010 (it seems so distant given the pace of the online world, doesn’t it?) it was becoming clear that college students were lacking empathy, as discussed in this article in Psychology Today, pointing out a 40% drop over ten years. Now, in this study, the lack of empathy is not pinpointed on the online world alone, but more the narcissistic tendencies of youth and the limiting in free time and outdoor time, some of which can be traced to the rise of social media and online time.
More recently, in 2016, Michael Brodeur writing for the Boston Globe argues that empathy is adapting, changing as needed to fit the confines of our online relationships. Perhaps this is how an online empathy deficit is overcome, we adapt and make use of the good and positives of the online environments, even if the online world and barrage of information asking a lot more of us than our narrow scope of view did in the past. Citing small changes such as the use of a “like” button or the use of emojis to comfort, or even the movement in AI to have computers reflect the concept of empathy back to us, he argues that empathy is not gone, just different and adapting. In a blog post titled “Expecting Empathy on the Internet,” on Huffington Post, contributor Suren Ramasubbu continues to focus on the positive, pointing out that empathy can be found in many places online, citing multiple studies that seem to dispel the myth that online interactions completely destroy empathy. One such study hits somewhere in the middle, and is worth a read: Virtual empathy: Positive and negative impacts of going online upon empathy in young adults In this study, researchers look at interactions with 1390 young adults, finding that online time doesn’t necessarily decrease empathy, but in some cases, like in video game interactions, empathy does appear to be diminished.
The cases we’ve discussed today are but a glimpse of the overall picture of empathy online. Through this project, I hope to examine many of the different areas where empathy is present, lacking, or needs some help to exist. What about your world, reader? Where do you find empathy in your online interactions? Where is it severely lacking? How do you practice empathy online? Share your stories using the hashtag #practiceempathy and let the social media world know how we can all contribute to a more empathetic Internet.
The Empathy Project is the Capstone Project of Matt Achhammer, a student in the Emerging Media Master’s program at Loyola University Maryland. I invite you to join me in this discussion here and on social media through Facebook and Twitter. Please feel welcome to suggest topics, provide examples, and share advice or your own stories along the way.
