To better understand other people’s feelings or thoughts, we often put ourselves in their place and empathize with them. You might think that empathy has no position in technology, but the rapid development of communication tools suggests otherwise. With the advancement of technology that has led to the development of communication tools, the relationship between humans and technology has become more critical. In this article, we talk about the relationship between technology and empathy. Stay with us.
The relationship between technology and empathy
Initially, technology had nothing to do with empathy and was only developed to help humans perform various activities. However, over the years, we have witnessed that the empathic relationship between people has increased as technology has advanced. How technology has affected empathy depends on our perspective.
Technology advances daily, so its change and evolution may also affect our empathic relationship, especially with the increasing prevalence of mobile technologies. If technology has caused a decrease in empathy in your life, it cannot necessarily be concluded that this is always the case. Also, it cannot be denied that the inappropriate use of technology may have severe and even dangerous consequences.
Therefore, there are many questions that we must ask ourselves when examining the relationship between technology and empathy; What was the state of interpersonal relationships before the emergence of technological innovations such as social networks? How has the advancement of technology improved communication and relationships?
The effect of technology on human empathic behavior
Much has been said about the relationship between technology and empathy. Now we are exploring the impact of technology on the heart. Due to the increase in the use of social networks, research on the effect of their use on the psychological development of adolescents has increased.
Social networks considered one of the main areas of technology, has become an essential part of the daily life of young and old. The existence of these social networks has many advantages and positive points, including:
- increasing self-esteem ;
- increasing intimacy and friendship;
- improving digital marketing ;
- Opportunity to showcase talents.
Of course, along with these positive points, adverse reports have also been published, such as:
- inappropriate use of social networks;
- cyberbullying ;
- exposure of children and teenagers to obscene content;
- easy dissemination of fake news and information;
- Increase in the number of Internet fraudsters.
Empathy leads us to understand the feelings of others in a world where we can keep ourselves busy without having to connect with others. Experts say that children who grow up alone and do not need to communicate with peers or other people later in life have difficulty communicating with others.
Research on the effect of technology on children’s empathy
Adam Alter, a professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business, writes in his book that technology has a direct and negative impact on our ability to communicate with each other. He hypothesizes that virtual communication takes us away from human interaction, the consequences of which are hard to understand, especially for children.
Alter researched in 2012; He wanted to investigate the impact of digital devices and social networks by taking children on a week-long camp in nature without technology. Alter took two empathy tests from the children, one on the first day of camp and one on the last days. This test uses a person’s facial expression and tone to measure his emotional state. After a week without technology, children’s scores on this test increased by 33%. This shows the apparent impact of media and digital tools on children’s empathy and ability to foster emotional connections.
According to this research, it can be said that with the advancement of technology, empathy between people decreases. The goal of compassion is “reciprocity,” but with the proliferation of digital communication tools that enable people to be alone without feeling the need to connect with others, this goal is not being met.
What reasons do critics of technology give for its negative effect on empathy?
One of these reasons is that even if social networks allow us to find new friends and facilitate online communication, they do not increase our communication and social skills. Another reason is that detecting emotions through chat and virtual communication is difficult. You cannot see the other person’s body language or facial expressions and are limited to the feeling you get from reading a few words.
Why does technology need empathy?
A complete understanding of human behavior is essential for a user-friendly application or tool. This is where we see that technological innovations also need empathy. Developers and engineers make these tools for humans. Their goal is to help humans reduce the amount of work and do them quickly, which is impossible without considering human feelings and relationships.
Even one of the things that makes games very interesting for users is that they can immerse themselves in the game. Since we know that empathy is the ability to understand and share feelings, the heart is also essential for technological creations to be user-friendly. A developer or engineer must use empathy to understand user behavior.
you say
Do you think the influence of technology on people’s empathy is decreasing or increasing? Please share your valuable comments and experiences with our dear users and us.
Warning! This article is only for educational purposes; to use it, it is necessary to consult a doctor or specialist.
