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College Kids 40% Less Empathetic. 94% Don't Care About This Fact. (Social Blade)

840 views · Published 8 June 2010 · 6:29 · Indexed 3 October 2026

Channel: Social Blade · 2010 · Education

A recent study conducted by the University of Michigan concluded today's college students are 40-per-cent less empathetic than those of the 1980s and 1990s. They attributed this to the influx of callous reality TV shows and the astronomical growth of social networking and texting -- technologies that allow people to tune others out when they don't feel like engaging.

The researchers wrote "young adults today comprise one of the most self-concerned, competitive, confident, and individualistic cohorts in recent history," referring to the "Me Generation".

They note that the most sizable empathy drop came after 2000 as social networks such as Facebook and MySpace began to flourish. I quote "physically distant online environments" allowed people to "lionize their own lives" and "functionally create a buffer between individuals, which makes it easier to ignore others' pain, or even at times, inflict pain upon others."

Do you agree with their study, that college kids at less empathetic due in part to increase use of new media?

Their Method: They examined 72 studies of American college students, mean age 20, from 1979 to 2009. All of them participated in a Reactivity Index, which looked at empathic concern, an emotional response to the distress of others, and "perspective-taking," or the ability to imagine another person's perspective.

Full Show Notes: http://socialblade.com/show/2010/06/04/how-to-digg-your-way-out-of-college-without-getting-criticized-episode-43/

College Kids 40% Less Empathetic. 94% Don't Care About This Fact. (Social Blade)

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