“Empathy in digital age”
I have watched cognitive neuroscientist Katri Saarikivi’s TEDx talk on Youtube. The speech was called “Empathy in digital age” and, as the name tells, it was about empathy and it’s compatibility with the digital age. Saarikivi first explained what empathy is and how empathy works in our brain, how it can be studied and why it is one of the most important skills in humanity. In terms of my learning goals, what made the talk interesting and relevant was that it is important to learn and understand empathy and how empathy can be strengthened in customer service in our changing and technologizing society. How to communicate with customers and show empathy through communication channels.
Changing world of work
The speech dealth with empathy in terms of digitalization and very good and important ideas came up in it, which I have sometimes thought about myself. Fox example, the changing world of work due to digitalization, how the technology is constantly developing and how in some fields robotics replaces human work.
I have always been a bit skeptical and prejudiced about the use of robots in workinglife and other people’s attitudes and prejudices have also increased my own skeptical attitude. In addition, my limited knowledge of robotics and the different utilization of technology in future jobs has increased my prejudices. I have worked a lot as a practical nurse with children, the disabled people and the elderly, so I think that connection and interaction between people is very important, which a robot could not replace. However, Saarikivi’s speech opened my eyes to the fact that robots are not meant to replace human effort or change workinglife, but the use of robots in workinglife mainly changes the work that people can focus on. Using robots can allow people to focus on work that robots cannot do. A job that requires empathy, flexibility, creativity and the ability to learn new things.
Also in the future, the use of robotics in certain tasks, for example in the care sector, could enable a better quality of care and would bring more time to be with the customers/patients. In the future the ability to be empathetic will be one of the most important work skills of a person.
Lack of empathy in social media
Another thing that I found very interesting while listening to Saarikivi’s speech was that as we live in the digital age, a large part of the communication and connection between people takes place through social media. Speaking of empathy, communication through social media destroys empathy because phones are not designed to take peoples feeling’s into account. Emoji’s are just a weak way to express emotions and it can’t even be compared to face-to-face communication. I’ve often thought about it and noticed that communicating and expressing feelings through social media often causes misunderstandings, when you can’t recognize another person’s feelings over the phone.
Saarikivi said well that only information passes through messages, but emotions are left out. For this, she gave an example, that on social media this makes bullying easy when you don’t know how the other person is feeling. In real life, the consequences of cyberbullying can be really serious. I think this is very true and it’s sad that online bullying is really common and happens every day. I am sure that none of the online bullies would dare to say out loud and face to face the things that they write on social media.
How to increase empathy?
Saarikivi is a neuroscientist and studies empathy using scientific methods. Interesting and new information for me was that empathy can be created by stimulating the brain with a strong magnet. According to Saarikivi, it produces empathy, creates sociability and emotions.
Feelings of empathy can also be learned in other ways. For example, by reading books the ability of feeling empathy can develop. I think this is very true, I myself have recently read books that are based on real events from the lives of real people. The events narrated in the books are described in great detail and in such a way that the reader is able to put himself in the main character’s life and understand and feel the emotions that the main character feels. I think that you can learn and develop empathy with the help of books. Another stimulator of empathy is music. When people listen to music, they don’t have to share the same language or culture, but the feelings of empathy are the same.
I’ll end by quoting Saarikivi’s words: “Being empathetic is one of the bravest things you can do.” It takes courage to put yourself in another person’s position.
Sources:
Katri Saarikivi’s TEDx speech on Youtube