Technology Is Destroying Empathy And Draws People 's Attention Away From Reality

Carl Rogers describes empathy as the ability to sense the client’s world as if it were your own. Sanders (1999)

Have you ever wondered how so many people can play video games for hours? Or how gamers can connect to people in the “virtual world” and learn life lessons? In the book, Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World and the article “Becoming Part of Something Bigger Than ourselves” by Jane McGonigal says “the single best way to add meaning to our lives is to connect our daily actions to something bigger than ourselves and the bigger, the better” (446). In 2009, McGonigal’s best video game, SuperBetter, went viral. The popularity from the video game increased gamers to battle health challenges like depression and anxiety. Mcgonigal's video game also increased better communication skills between friends, family,

Empathy and caring is an essential part of human health. We love because we can empathize (Szalavitz & Perry, 2010). Empathy underlies everything that makes society work; such as altruism, collaboration, love and charity. Failures to empathize are a key part of social problems, such as crime, violence, war, racism, child abuse and inequity. Although we are genetically predisposed to care for others, the development of empathy requires a lifelong process of relational interaction (Szalavitz & Perry, 2010). More importantly, the first relationship humans experience, the

The importance of empathy in any helping profession, medical or social, cannot be overstated. The workers that exemplified it in their practice did the best that they could with their limited resources.

Empathy is the ability to understand and experience the feelings of others, particularly others’ suffering. Humanity’s gift of understanding complex emotions ushers in a new way of understanding ourselves and how we react to stimuli. This ultimately leads to questioning of everything, leading us to one strong notion: Does empathy guide or hinder moral action?

“Empathy is about standing in someone else’s shoes, feeling with his or her heart, seeing with his or her eyes. Not only is empathy hard to outsource and automate, but it makes the world a better place.” Daniel H. Pink’s quote relates to Richard Connell’s fictional short story, “The Most Dangerous Game,” where the main character, Rainsford, learns to grow empathy to others situation and feelings. Connell uses this short story for readers to grasp a deeper concept besides just a fun read while connecting with Thomas C. Foster informative literature How to Read Literature Like a Professor; For Kids.

People waste their time amusing themselves with video games and computer programs. By doing this, they miss out on human interactions. Without these interactions, people stall development of necessary social skills, such as relating to someone else - a required component of empathy. Isolation can also take place in large cities, far away from small communities , leading to empathetic decline. Since the far-away communities are not on the radar and focus of large cities, the problems small communities face are not held in high priority by large cities. By doing this, large cities demonstrate a selfish streak, as they have no care for the issues outside their borders. Without this care, empathy cannot be felt! Upon close analysis, it is clear to see how social isolation can by a deterring factor in declining empathy, a theory suggested by Sara H.

Bohart, A. C., Greenberg, L. S., Elliot, R., & Watson, J. C. (2011). Empathy. Psychotherapy , 48 (1), 43-49.

In April of 2009, Halo 3 players finally achieved the staggering milestone of 10 billion kills that had taken them over 565 days to accomplish. Halo is one of the first virtual games that was massively multiplayer; which, helped it foster an online community greater than any game before it. Jane McGonigal uses the game as a case study in her book Reality is Broken: Why Games Makes Us Better and How They Can Change the World. McGonigal’s Halo study is but one of the many tools that help her identify the communal capabilities of virtual gaming, as well as the many other ways gaming can improve the interaction between humans and reality. Another tool that McGonigal implements is the digital image on the front cover of her book.

Professor Paul Bloom states he is against empathy. He believes it is wrongfully used in our society and should not be used in certain situations. He still thinks it is important sometimes, but should not be primarily used as a result of anger, depression or retaliation. He believes compassion is the solution to empathy. In the long run, Bloom states that empathy will fail or burnout in a person. Hannah the extremely empathic person will eventually burnout according to Bloom. The use of empathy everyday as a core moral code will eventually be overwhelming and burned out and used up. The person will change direction and use empathy less in their lifetime. This essay will explore Paul Bloms opinion of empathy in his article, “Against

According to the study done by Pierce College, gaming is no longer a solitary activity; instead it is becoming increasingly social with 80% reporting being part of a gaming community (Fredrickson). This study states that online games provide a communication tool to people since social relationships have become a significant role in the game industry. Jane McGonigal’s book Reality Is Broken, published in 2011 by the Penguin Group, discusses why games make people better and how they can change the world. Among the chapters, chapter 5, “Stronger Social Connectivity,” specifically describes how games build social relationships. McGonigal explains prosocial emotions, a subset of positive emotions, by organizing her arguments clearly and providing

The overall purpose of this article is to show how empathy and emotional experiences are linked. This article also gives various theories and ideas by world renowned psychologists. The theme of this article is how much empathy we have toward others in social experiences. A few new ideas and purposes of this article were when they talked about all the different Theories based on appraisal and empathy in certain situations. It’s really important to publicize these ideas because for one this stuff is very interesting, it could help others discover new approaches to situations, and it would very well help people themselves deal with empathy.

Most definitions of empathy are based on the same core idea - empathy is the ability to understand and identify someone else’s thoughts and feelings, as if they were one’s own (wordreference online dictionary, 2016). Although it’s been said “there are probably nearly as many definitions of empathy as people working on the topic.” (de Vignemont & Singer, 2006, p.435) suggesting that there is no singular way to even define empathy, let alone explain its impact on our behaviour. Due to the sheer depth and complexity of empathy it’s understandable that each discipline within psychology presents it’s own explanation for why we experience it, and how it can affect our interaction with the world around us. Psychologists have been exploring empathy for decades, in hope of gaining a complete grasp of what it means and how it can vary between each person, therefore its important we look at different psychological perspectives to try to understand it’s many dimensions.

But not all video games are violent: in fact, video games can promote cohesion through cooperation rather than competition. Multiplayer games sometimes implement a cooperative mode enabling players to use teamwork to achieve a goal instead of contending for supremacy. This cooperative multiplayer encourages “(against the stereotype of gaming as a socially isolating action) the development of team, social,

I believe empathy is formed at home. When we are kids, our parents teach us the golden rule, which is: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. As we grow older, we are taught that it´s important to care about people’s feelings. We grow up with the idea that we shouldn't only care about ourselves, but always be concerned for others. In my opinion, everyone should desire