The Future of Feeling: Building Empathy in a Tech-Obsessed World

people’s level of empathy seems to correlate with their position in society.

When I hear about a new app, gadget, or tech-based service, I try to ask myself the following questions: How might this improve my life or experience, or those of others? What is the potential for it to be manipulated, and are there safeguards? Is there incentive for the people in charge to monitor this—do they have skin in the game? And ultimately

Studies show that teaching traits like kindness, compassion, and empathy, in an explicit and intentional way at a young age, can make a difference. A 2011 meta-analysis of social-emotional learning, which many US curricula have embraced in recent decades, suggested that it led to higher graduation rates and safer sex, even eighteen years later.

phubbing, or ignoring the people around you in favor of your phone.

even though they were constantly sending messages back and forth, none of these kids seemed to know how to talk to one another.

Social technology is ostensibly about connecting people, but it doesn’t often foster the empathy that’s needed for real human connection.

This reaction tends to be less common with tragedies that affect larger groups of people, a phenomenon sometimes called the “collapse of compassion.” Experts think this happens because we automatically regulate our emotional reactions when we expect them to be overwhelming.

compassion is feeling for someone; empathy is feeling with them.

The people who scored higher in empathy also scored much higher in reading body language, conflict-resolution skills, resilience, and standing by their values.