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There was a research .in 2010 measuring a decrease of 40% in empathy among college students since 2000[1]. And Israeli researcher who talks with teens everyday

by petra 11y ago

There was a research .in 2010 measuring a decrease of 40% in empathy among college students since 2000[1]. And Israeli researcher who talks with teens everyday and deals with those subject recently did an interview in an Israeli newspaper , and he thinks that the cause is smartphones and social media. He frames this as "our children are becoming less human". If you add that into the calculation, it could be that the total value of all internet startups, Paul Graham's specialty , is greatly negative, and they're not just silly entertainment. [1]https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/born-love/201005/shocker-empathy-dropped-40-in-college-students-2000 https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/born-love/201005/shocke...

Natsu 11y ago
How are startups responsible for empathy in college students?
- petra 11y ago
  Teenagers have little face to face time , and a lot of social media time , due to the addictiveness of smartphones, and various social media apps and probably various games -mostly created in silicon valley. Face to face time is where you learn emotional intelligence and empathy. A simple example: usually in real life , when you hurt someone , you see him getting hurt and you might feel ashamed. Social media lacks that.
  - Natsu 11y ago
    That's an interesting theory. How would you test it to prove (or disprove) it? Would you predict that it would change as video chat becomes more commonplace? Why or why not?
    - petra 11y ago
      There's this study : http://www.csudh.edu/psych/Virtual_empathy_-_Positive_and_negative_impacts_of_going_online_upon_empathy_in_young_adults.pdf http://www.csudh.edu/psych/Virtual_empathy_-_Positive_and_ne... It says "little negative effects for online usage, except for gaming both for males and females", but the other thing it says - "little decrease in face to face time" contradicts other research that talks about greatly decreased face-to-face time : http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/1137/the-effect-of-technology-on-face-to-face-communication http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/1137/the-effect-of-tech... So it does require more research. As for changing to video chat - i'm sure that would help(to some extent, and depending on video chat quality [things like eye contact]) but the weird question is - how do you make face to face chat as addictive as facebook/reddit/HN ?

by petra 11y ago

Natsu 11y ago

How are startups responsible for empathy in college students?

petra 11y ago
Teenagers have little face to face time , and a lot of social media time , due to the addictiveness of smartphones, and various social media apps and probably various games -mostly created in silicon valley. Face to face time is where you learn emotional intelligence and empathy. A simple example: usually in real life , when you hurt someone , you see him getting hurt and you might feel ashamed. Social media lacks that.
- Natsu 11y ago
  That's an interesting theory. How would you test it to prove (or disprove) it? Would you predict that it would change as video chat becomes more commonplace? Why or why not?
  - petra 11y ago
    There's this study : http://www.csudh.edu/psych/Virtual_empathy_-_Positive_and_negative_impacts_of_going_online_upon_empathy_in_young_adults.pdf http://www.csudh.edu/psych/Virtual_empathy_-_Positive_and_ne... It says "little negative effects for online usage, except for gaming both for males and females", but the other thing it says - "little decrease in face to face time" contradicts other research that talks about greatly decreased face-to-face time : http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/1137/the-effect-of-technology-on-face-to-face-communication http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/1137/the-effect-of-tech... So it does require more research. As for changing to video chat - i'm sure that would help(to some extent, and depending on video chat quality [things like eye contact]) but the weird question is - how do you make face to face chat as addictive as facebook/reddit/HN ?