How Our Screens Diminish Our Empath

Sadly, it may just be a sign of the times. A

shocking video was recently taken by a 2. Screens produce the crowd effect.
group of teens as they watched a man Have you read about the crowd effect?
struggle and drown in a local pond. The When people are downtown and see
body of Jamel Dunn was not found for five someone getting accosted, they respond
days. Apparently, it was entertaining. So differentlydepending on whether theres a
instead of taking action, some students are crowd. If they see a bunch of people
more prone to take videos. around, they assume someone else will do
The video was graphically clear. It shows something. When alone, theyre more apt
Mr. Dunn, who was 31 years old, flailing in to respond. It seems that screens make us
the water as the teenagers laughed and feel like theres a crowd.
narrated his struggle from the shoreline.
One of them used an explicative and called 3. Screens separate us from real pain.
Mr. Dunn a junkie. Another voice told him We watch murders and robberies on TV.
not to expect any aid: Aint nobody going We see criticism
to help you, you dumb b***h! You shouldnt take place on Twitter. We watch
have got in there, the teen says. After a catastrophic fails on Youtube .Somehow,
minute of video, Dunn appeared to let out a seeing so many tragedies numbs us to the
whimper before going under. He just reality of the pain. The screen distances us.
died! a voice can be heard as the others Whats more, our mind doesnt know the
began to laugh again. I will be the first to difference between a real experience and
acknowledge, this is a strange occurrence. an imagined one. Its like a show.
Im not suggesting it happens every day. I
am saying, however, I read stories like this 4. Screens have cultivated the priority of
more often than I did in the past. Our appearance.
organization, Growing Leaders, One of the subtle and sinister outcomes of
consistently receives reports from school a world full of portable devices is that
administrators about bullying, by students people are now far more conscious of how
who are apathetic as to how their actions something appears than what it is in reality.
impact peers. Weve been called more than We are image conscious: How will this look
once from a school desiring an Anti- on Instagram? What will my reputation be if
Bullying Event on their campus, because a I post this? Catching a video can trump
student committed suicide, after bullying helping a person in need.
incidents left that victim feeling hopeless
and alone. If our culture is infiltrated with screens, un-
empathetic to the pain or needs of others,
It begs the question: What has we can expect the rise of stories like the
happened to empathy? videotaped drowning of Mr. Dunn. As
1. The influence of screens and social ridiculous as it sounds, the higher calling is
media. to capture a story on video than to prevent
When you examine the data, there are a tragedy and have nothing to show for it.
distinct parallels between the introduction Further, with so much on-line content
of social media and the decline in empathy available, it will require more and more to
or compassion. The University of Michigan wow viewers. The end result? The videos
first reported a 40 percent drop in empathy need to be more dramatic each year. We
among college students a decade ago, foster inattentive surroundings where our
about the same year social media took over goal becomes fighting boredom more than
students lives. being human. Michael Bader, D.M.H.,
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/artificial-maturity/201708/how-our-screens-diminish-our-empathy
writes, When the environment is
inattentive and not empathetic, a childs
stress response system, embedded as it is
in the architecture of the childs developing
nervous system (mediators in this system
include oxytocin, opiate and dopamine
receptors, cortisol levels and
parasympathetic nerve pathways), is
overwhelmed and many types of
psychopathology result. Higher cognitive
functions, including language, can suffer as
the brain instinctively relies on more
primitive regions to deal with an
unresponsive environment.

One Action Step

After the teens captured the video of the
drowning, one of them suggested they call
the police to report it. His idea was rejected
by the others. The police identified and met
with all five teenagers, who ranged from
ages 14-18. They reported none of them
appeared to show emotion. One policeman
confirmed, What I saw was not
remorseful. () If they can sit there and
watch somebody die in front of their eyes,
imagine what theyre going to do when they
get older? That was Mr. Dunns sisters
question about the teens. I have the same
question.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/artificial-maturity/201708/how-our-screens-diminish-our-empathy