Using technology to start conversations and empathize with one another.
By Maggie McMullen, Lovelace Biomedical
The role of empathy in our modern world is a popular topic we see discussed within a variety of publications both academic and mainstream. Empathy becomes even more relevant when we consider the state of current affairs: our reliance on technology as we seek to maintain being connected. An encounter with this very topic came up when a title from a program called Amazon’s First Read caught my eye. The Future of Feeling by author Kaitlin Ugolik Phillips takes you on a journey all about technology tools being used to increase empathy.1
The first chapter, Talking to Each Other, begins, “One of the internet’s greatest promises is access to conversations with people all around the world.” What an amazing thing to have right at our fingertips. We have opportunities to engage with people all over the planet, through applications like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and thousands of others that frankly, I never even knew existed. Ugolik Phillips suggests that when our conversations become nothing more than a technologically mediated interaction, they no longer resemble the true definition of conversation.
Merriam-Webster defines conversation as “oral exchange of sentiments, observations, opinions, or idea” Consider the example following this definition: “We had talk enough but no conversation; there was nothing discussed.”2 I find this to be extremely accurate in describing the way we communicate on the internet. Tone is often lost, and we are deprived of those critical, nonverbal cues such as voice inflections, facial expressions, and body language. Interestingly, when I read online conversations, I see a lot of capitalized words and exclamation points which honestly conveys nothing more than yelling if you ask me.
We use technology to talk at each other rather than with each other. As a result, we have seen a degradation in our ability to see life through someone else’s lens. We have reduced our ability to be truly inquisitive and genuinely understand perspectives that differ from our own point of view. Lately, empathy is in short supply.
We all benefit from utilizing empathy. Empathy is “the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner.”3 In Uoglik Phillips’ book, significant attention is given to technologies making big waves when it comes to teaching others how to become more empathetic. For instance, virtual reality is a tool that allows one to simply put on a headset and virtually take a walk in another person’s shoes. This experience can help users gain the ability to truly see from a new or different perspective, resulting in empathy. In this way, technology has the potential to be a tool that progresses us toward a more empathetic world.
Fast forward from months ago when I chose this topic. We are now experiencing a pandemic that has turned our world and our lives upside down. Loved ones have passed away. Our medical personnel are on the front lines fighting a war with an invisible enemy. People are out of work. School has been canceled. Many companies have shifted to virtual opportunities.
We have all these technology tools available to us. Let’s use them to have real conversations rather than just talking at each other. We have an opportunity to reset the bar in 2020, to be more empathic, because for the first time in our lifetime we all have one experience in common, COVID-19. It is affecting us all.
While I cannot fully know what it is like to be on the front lines like so many health care professionals and first responders—the sheer exhaustion, the fear regarding lack of supplies needed to effectively do their job, or what it’s like to lose my job because my profession was not deemed essential—I am willing to have a real conversation to better understand what people are experiencing and see things through their lens.
References
1Ugolik Phillips K. The Future of Feeling: Building Empathy in a Tech-Obsessed World. New York: Little A, 2020.
2Conversation. Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Accessed April 4, 2020.
3Empathy. Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Accessed April 4, 2020.
Maggie McMullen is the business development operations manager at Lovelace Biomedical and current chair of the AAPS Career Development Committee.