The Empathy Paradox: Increasing Disconnection in the Age of Increasing Connection

View Sample PDF

Author(s): Sara Konrath (University of Michigan, USA & University of Rochester Medical Center, USA)
Copyright: 2013
Pages: 25
Source title: Handbook of Research on Technoself: Identity in a Technological Society
Source Author(s)/Editor(s): Rocci Luppicini (University of Ottawa, Canada)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-2211-1.ch012

Keywords: Human Aspects of Technology / Information Science Reference / Social Sciences & Humanities

Purchase

View The Empathy Paradox: Increasing Disconnection in the Age of Increasing Connection on the publisher's website for pricing and purchasing information.

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to summarize changes in personality traits that have co-occurred with the rise of new social media, and to evaluate the plausibility of the hypothesis that new social media are a partial explanation for these dramatic changes. Studies have found a rise in social disconnection among recent generations of young Americans. Self-esteem and narcissism have been rising in college students from the late 1970s to 2010, with simultaneous declines in empathy. Scholars and lay people alike blame the rise of the internet, and in particular, self-oriented and self-promoting “social” networking sites. This new media landscape could lead to increasing social disconnection even as it superficially increases our social connections, and several studies suggest a direct link between social media use and social disconnection. However, since most research thus far is correlational, interpretations are limited, leaving open more optimistic possibilities for new social media.

The IRMA Community

Research IRM

The Empathy Paradox: Increasing Disconnection in the Age of Increasing Connection

Purchase

Abstract

Related Content

IRMA Sponsors