Can Empathy Be Learned Online?

There is a lot of questions about how the digital world is reforming our connections.

Working in the digital realm, I have questions too.

For example: Can empathy be learned online?

I recently finished reading Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age , a New York Times bestseller by Sherry Turkle. (This is a book everyone should read.)

Dr. Sherry Turkle is one of the leading expert in the study of communication and technology. Dr Turkle argues that “replacing face-to-face communication with smartphones is diminishing people’s capacity for empathy”.

Here is an excerpt from, “Reclaiming Conversation”.

Recently, I worked with a middle school in upstate New York, asked to consult with its faculty about what they see as a disturbance in their students’ friendship patterns. In her invitation, the dean put it this way: “Students don’t seem to be making friendships as before. They make acquaintances, but their connections seem superficial.”

The case of the superficial acquaintances in middle school was compelling. What I was hearing made sense in light of other things I was hearing in other schools, from other teachers, and from older students. And so, it was decided that I would join the Holbrooke teachers on a faculty retreat. I brought along a new notebook; after an hour, I wrote on its cover, “The Empathy Diaries.”

For that was what was on the minds of the Holbrooke teachers. Children at Holbrooke were not developing empathy in the way that years of teaching had suggested they would.

Dr. Brene’ Brown defines empathy as: “Feeling with people.”

Empathy is a choice to:

See with the eyes of another

Hear with the ears of another

Feel with the heart of another

• Anonymous

The question remains: If empathy fuels connection, can empathy be taught online?

The answer is YES. Empathy CAN be taught and it SHOULD be taught.

Empathy is a learned behavior.

Empathy is a choice.

As parents, educators, pastors, business leaders, and digital influencers, we have a greater opportunity than ever before to teach empathy.

What are your ideas for teaching empathy in digital space?