I sit here contemplating the many events that have transpired in our world over the past 6 months and I wonder: are we losing our ability to truly talk and empathize with one another?
The more I interact on places like Facebook and Twitter, the more I begin to feel as though we have become electronic zombies, where the more we engage in monochrome text, the more devoid of character and empathy our interactions really are. It’s as if the send or post or tweet button is the sanitation method for our empathy and understanding, our sympathy and collaboration. Technology has brought us to great heights in our quest for knowledge and access to that knowledge. But it has been a cruel mistress when it comes to interacting with our fellow human. We have supplanted our ability to converse face to face, or voice to voice, with the barrier seeking façade of social media and electronic interaction. It’s a conundrum we cannot easily replace if we want to remain vigilant, knowledgeable, or even connected.
When we log on, we seem to enter a world of virtual family reunions, political discourse and debate, and an orgy of images and likes and threads. Not all of it is good. There is evil lurking in every corner and our kids are now exposed like never before in previous generations. On top of the known evils like porn and bullying and theft, there is one lurking deep with inside each of us. This evil is fed by a desire to be liked, a desire to be heard, a desire to seem relevant to the world. It manifests itself in the ever-present idea that we must be electronically connected in order to talk. When we don’t stay connected, sometimes we are shamed for being out of touch or not caring because we didn’t like the family photo, the off color joke, or random comment about a false meme. Electronic interaction is feeding a monster devoid of empathy and understanding, and this monster devours most who just want to be looked at as someone in an ocean of personalities. The plate of empathy has almost been licked clean by the monster that is electronic interaction.
When we lose our empathy, then we lose the ability to try and understand someone and see perspectives that don’t always align with our own. We lose the essence of humanity: connection. Today, we are more connected to our fellow humans around the world through technology, yet in many ways we are further removed from one another on a basic, moral level and we are losing the battle for true intimacy and connection.
This does not mean we have to ditch our social media, smartphones or online identity. What this means is that we must alter the construct of these interactions. We must, on a human level, learn to understand and connect using the most valuable interactive trait: empathy. Our fingers must learn to listen to understand, not refute. We must listen for the pain, hope or fear, before we try to give advice, or solve a problem. We can change our world, and the world of those around us, by taking 5 seconds. Waiting. Listening.
Trust is built on empathy. Trust is strengthened through dignity and respect. This does not require us to agree. It requires us to be human.
Reality Politics 