Our empathy crisis: How to Leverage Technology to Manifest a More empathetic society

Cruel sarcasm, hateful vitriol, malicious comments, and unchecked rage proliferate our communications in the digital echo chambers of social media,⁶ where the worst in human nature emerges under the cloak of anonymity. As technological advances allow us to connect digitally with people around the globe, they have ironically produced the opposite effect, creating a society disconnected from the realities of the world, where compassion and basic decency have become casualties of the digital age.

But how has technology impacted our modern society in a way that has eroded a basic trait – empathy, the very quality that many would say distinguishes us as human?¹ When tragedies, mental illnesses, or issues of systemic injustice are reduced to bite-sized memes, constant exposure to social media can trivialize real-world issues and desensitize us to others’ suffering. A meta-analysis of 72 studies sampling 14,000 people conducted between 1979 and 2009,^{8, 9} found that empathy levels among young people decreased by 48% from 1979 to 2009,2 with a particularly steep decline between 2000 and 2009.7 Dr. Michele Borba, author of Unselfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All-About-Me World, discusses how technology has negatively impacted our society, particularly its youth: “Our children became very plugged in around the year 2000. It's very hard to be empathetic and feel for another human being if you can't read another person's emotions. You don't learn emotional literacy (by) facing a screen. You don't learn emotional literacy with emojis.”⁷

More alarmingly, a 2018 study also found a strong correlation between narcissism and social media usage, reporting that narcissism is on the rise, along with social media usage, in young people.⁴ These studies reviewed samples of American college and high school senior students and noted that they self-reported becoming lower in empathy over time but attribute the decrease to 'burnout culture'⁴ and the ever-increasing societal pressures to succeed.

As we continue to hear and read more about the empathy crisis in our country, the debate on whether nature versus nurture dictates a person’s empathy levels continues. But to fix the empathy deficit in our society, we first must define it. What is empathy? Empathy is both imagining other people’s perspectives and their world (cognitive empathy), and it is also caring, compassion and concern for others (emotional empathy).⁴ While about half of the amount of empathy that a person is born with has a genetic component, external factors (i.e. parenting, schools, community, and culture) influence empathy as well.⁴ So, although there is a biological basis for empathy, it can be learned. Mirror neurons are regions of our brain that activate when we observe other people’s actions, revealing an inherent physiological connection between individuals. These neurons help us become more empathetic by allowing us to share a moment of similar experience with someone else.⁴ This is the reason how creativity plays a role in creating a more empathetic society. Research conducted by Dr. Sara Konrath showed, for example, that reading fiction actually helps to increase empathy, as it forces a person to focus on similarities between themselves and others, as well as allows one to get a window into someone’s mind, see the world through their eyes, and imagine other people’s lives.⁴ However, with the rise of social media platforms for self-promotion and artificial intelligence (AI) programmed to simulate human emotions, allowing machines to act as companions, best friends, confidantes, and on-call therapists, our society is becoming more disconnected with each other.³ It is no wonder that our society has become lonelier and more isolated when genuine human interaction is considered inferior to the reliable consistency of chatbots.³ But how has our society come to this? Well, the answer lies in understanding what drives technology: society's values.

Clinical psychologist Dr. Johnsey Thomas attributes the empathy crisis facing our country’s youths to a cultural shift that prioritizes advancing technologies like AI and social media to aid society, which has come to value efficiency and instant gratification over compassion and genuine human connection: “While this generation is more connected than ever, it’s also emotionally distant. Most of them have grown up with technology and are trapped in algorithm-driven filters that show them only what they like or agree with,” he explains. Dr. Thomas adds, “Online interactions which often lack emotional depth, are replacing real-world ones. Liking, scrolling, swiping – none of these teach body language, comfort, or real help. They rob us of the complexity of human interaction.”⁶

Scientific studies note that the rise in mental health problems among young people correlates with the decrease in empathy levels. However, rather than blaming technology for our country’s empathy deficit, it is important to identify why social media and AI technology have become so appealing and addictive. After all, what drives technology, but its society's culture and value system? Social media reflects the increased pressures on young people to achieve success as they define it. Much has been written about the rise of America’s “selfie culture”⁷ and the impact of social media on the mental health of our nation’s youths. With today’s youths facing increased pressures to succeed, it becomes difficult to foster empathy, to think beyond the scope of oneself, where narcissistic behaviors are oftentimes required to survive in society.

In determining the root cause of our nation’s empathy deficit and whether technology is to blame, it would be remiss to ignore that the decline in empathy reflects broader social and cultural shifts. The correlation between social media usage and narcissism and the corresponding decline in empathy is not surprising given that social media platforms are designed to encourage self-promotion and self-aggrandizement.⁵ In modern societies that value individualism, competition, and achievement in school and the workplace, it can be difficult to connect emotionally with others when young people are often encouraged to prioritize their own needs and desires over those of others.⁵ When people see others primarily as rivals rather than as potential friends or collaborators,⁵ we create a society where individuals harbor an innate distrust in other humans. The social implications of declining empathy have an expanding negative impact on our world, since a society that lacks empathy is unlikely to consider the impact of their actions on others. Without empathy, it would be difficult to understand and address the experiences of others, and give attention to the broader social issues of discrimination and inequality. To solve the empathy crisis in America, it is crucial to reconsider the ways we use social media and other technologies, such as AI. It is important to understand that it is not the technology itself that causes narcissism, or the erosion of empathy, but how we use technology. A solution to our nation’s empathy deficit should involve coming up with ways to use technology to connect us with each other rather than to encourage self-promotion. As previously mentioned, it is through creative expression that can stimulate our mirror neurons or create new neural pathways. This takes engaging our 'right-side' brain with the arts. We should build apps that incorporate AI to create digital storybooks by making them a more engaging experience, by creating a collaborative and more interactive experience that supports the development of empathy through features like ‘scaffolding’ (i.e., audio prompts, problem-solving, choose your own adventure exercises, etc.). At the same time, we can also use social media to deliver digital books that foster compassion and encourage empathy through shared storytelling.¹⁰ In fact, because of the need to foster empathy, apps designed for children ages 10 to 17 are being developed to foster these traits of compassion and understanding, as well as encourage face-to-face interaction, and more open and more sensitive communication. We can also bring social justice issues to the forefront of pop culture by building Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) gaming that creates immersive environments to the experiences of marginalized populations and other communities for better understanding.¹¹

Overall, AI should not be used to replace human interaction, but rather to aid it, with social media as a vehicle for delivery. While our digital age compels us to strive for excellence in STEM-related subjects, developing our analytical left-side brain, it is just as important, if not more in our current empathy crisis, to nourish our right-side mind by promoting the incorporation of the arts (theatre, film-making, music, studio art, dance...etc.) into our youth's educational curriculum.¹² By doing this, STEAM education becomes the foundation that will enable us, as a society, to recreate ourselves as empathetic human beings capable of being the responsible stewards of our world that we, as humans, were meant to be.

Rethinking ways to use technology to create a more empathetic society would involve reassessing our society’s values, encouraging the significance of compassion and real connection over individual achievement. To paraphrase an old Cherokee saying, 'There are two wolves fighting within all of us, a good wolf and evil wolf’ — a war between empathy and greed. Who wins the fight is the one we choose to feed.'¹² As a society, it is up to us to decide which wolf we want to feed.

Works Cited:

1. Sustainability Directory. How Can Technology Hinder Empathetic Development? March 12, 2025. Accessed October 23, 2025. https://lifestyle.sustainability-directory.com/question/how-can-technology-hinder-empathetic-development/

2. Jabbour, R. Empathy is Dying and So Are We. January 18, 2024. Accessed October 23, 2025. https://www.thesmujournal.ca/editor/empathy-is-dying-and-so-are-we

3. Tobin, J. M. Therapist React to Study: AI Perceived as More Compassionate than Humans. July 23, 2025. Accessed October 24, 2025. https://www.psychology.org/resources/ai-and-empathy/

4. Konrath, S. Speaking of Psychology: The decline of empathy and the rise of narcissism, with Sara Konrath, PhD. American Psychological Association, Episode 95. 2019. Accessed October 24, 2025. https://www.apa.org/news/podcasts/speaking-of-psychology/empathy-

narcissism

5. Wondergressive. The Empathy Crisis: Understanding the Decline of Empathy in the New Generation. March 10, 2023. Accessed October 21, 2025. https://wondergressive.com/2023/03/10/the-empathy-crisis-understanding-the-decline-of-empathy-in-the-new-generation/

6. Mukherjee, K. Chronically online, emotionally offline: The empathy crisis. Deccan Chronicle. April 7, 2025. Accessed October 20, 2025 https://www.deccanchronicle.com/lifestyle/chronically-online-emotionally-offline-the-empathy-crisis-1871572

7. Meredith, B. America is Experiencing an Empathy Crisis. Medium. June 24, 2020. Accessed October 20, 2025. https://brookemeredith.medium.com/america-is-experiencing-an-empathy-crisis-a915c7c703fe

8. Silard, A. Ph.D. The Role of Social Media in Our Empathy Crisis. Psychology Today. July 11, 2022. Accessed October 19, 2025 https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-art-living-free/202207/the-role-social-media-in-our-empathy-crisis

9. Konrath, S. O’Brien, E., Hsing, C. Changes in Dispositional Empathy in American College Students Over Time: A Meta-Analysis. August 5, 2010. Accessed October 19, 2025. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1088868310377395

10. Litchfield, J. The Role of Storytelling in Building Empathy. MamaBear. July 11, 2025. Accessed October 19, 2025 https://www.mamabearbooks.com/blogs/mamabear-books/the-role-of-storytelling-in-building-empathy

11. USC Dornsife. Immersive Technology and Empathy. November 17, 2023. Accessed October 22, 2025 https://appliedpsychologydegree.usc.edu/blog/immersive-technology-and-empathy

12. A. TedxOcala. The Empathy Crisis. December 5, 2016. Accessed October 20, 2025. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIqZ4YClha0&t=97