Is technology diminishing human empathy?

Welcome to the digital age! An age, also known as the information age, that Merriam-Webster defines as “a time in which information has become a commodity.” Interestingly, a commodity is in turn defined as “a useful or valuable thing, such as water or time.”After applying the basic law of substitution, the dictionary thereby states that we live in an era where information is deemed as vital to human life as water or time itself. 

A recent survey by the Pew Research Center found that 90% of Americans currently own a smartphone. For context, this is drastically higher than the research center’s previous survey in 2011 which found that only 35% of Americans owned smartphones. With technology becoming more integrated into daily lives, interactions are, as a result, growing increasingly more virtual.

The commoditization and prevalence of technology in today’s world impact everything. For instance, large social gatherings that were once strictly in-person have breached the digital platform with virtual Sunday mass, Zoom therapy appointments, and even online concerts. There has been substantial research on this digital wave and its impacts on mental health and relationships, especially on our ability to connect to one another, understand each other’s feelings, and empathize.

Sherry Turkle, PhD, is a professor of science, technology, and society at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has a lot to say about the Digital Age and human empathy. In her recent novel, The Empathy Diaries: A Memoir, Turkle explains how digital communication has completely influenced the way we think about other people.

During an interview with the American Psychological Association, she explained that the act of empathizing has been eroded now that “we look at our phones and not at each other.” Expanding upon this idea, she elaborated that a world of technology is a world of simplicity and shortcuts, all of which are incongruent with the complexity of empathy. Seemingly, according to Turkle, people would rather rely on a screen for their social fulfillment without the repercussions associated with traditional, human relationships.

Turkle is not alone in her quest to explore the fallbacks of our digital world. Many research studies have also been trying to understand how technology is shaping us socially and how best to move forward. For instance, a study led by Bernd Lachmann sought to explore the correlation between disordered internet usage, empathy, and life satisfaction. First, it is important to note that the researchers pooled information from a sample in China and a sample in Germany to help account for some cross-cultural biases in the data. Then, empathy was measured using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, while life satisfaction was collected using the socioeconomic panel questionnaire.

“A world of technology is a world of simplicity and shortcuts, all of which are incongruent with the complexity of empathy.”

Upon analysis, both samples had an association between high rates of internet use disorder, low empathy, and low life satisfaction scores. The identification of this correlation has now led researchers to investigate which strategies can be implemented to prevent potential overuse of the internet, and the growing unempathetic epidemic. 

With the detrimental impacts that technology has on human connection and empathy, the real question is how do we remain human in an increasingly digital world? Unlike a computer or AI, humans can express emotion and create connections. Since eliminating technology in an extremely technical society is unrealistic, the solution may lie in intentionally trying to become more compassionate and empathetic. This could mean that people need to make a conscious effort to remain more human, a state of being that is no longer a given.