Practicing Empathy in Our Daily Lives
Empathy is a huge part of UX design. It’s part of the design thinking process which many designers like me use as a guide throughout each project. The design thinking process consists of: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test. We are constantly iterating and going back through the design thinking process time and time again, so it’s important to practice each of those steps. But how is it that you can practice something like empathy? I recently watched a video where author and researcher Brené Brown talks about empathy and I think it’s a great example of how we can bring it into our daily lives. I’ve included it below.
When she talks about empathy she begins by looking at the difference between empathy and sympathy. She says that empathy fuels connection and sympathy drives disconnection. She then goes on to talk about the four qualities of empathy which are: perspective taking, staying out of judgment, recognizing emotion in other people, and communicating that you understand what they are saying. Being empathic is a choice that we all have to make if we want to connect with other people.
She then brings up how when we empathize with others, we should never use the words “at least”, because it attempts to provide the person with a silver lining, instead of the comfort they are looking for.
When I heard this I thought back to many conversations I’ve had with friends and family members. For a lot of my life I compared myself to others. When others opened up to me, my gut reaction was to start a statement with “at least”, and measure my situation against theirs. I now realize how harmful that can be. It automatically disregards whatever that person is going through and shifts the conversation back to me.
In becoming a UX designer, I have learned how relevant empathy is to our everyday lives and that you can practice it in every conversation you have. Empathy begins at home and you can start by just being mindful when you speak with other people. Listen to them, understand what they are going through, and try to put yourself in their shoes. Don’t compare your situation to theirs, don’t try to identify a silver lining, and don’t attempt to solve their problem.
But as designers, our ultimate goal is to solve a problem and make things better for the user. Brené Brown says that rarely can a response make something better, and that connection is what people ultimately need. In practicing empathy, I am working to focus on connecting with others first and hearing what they are going through. The more we listen and understand what others are saying, the more trust and connection we build with the users. In turn, we will have a deeper awareness of what users are going through and will be better able to solve their problem in the end.
