Emphatic Technology

In the 164 World Fair, Isaac Asimov, a science-fiction writer was asked what that same event might look like 50 years later. He then said that by the year 2014, we will be in a constant company of “electroluminescent panels”” that is used for video chat, navigation and much more deeply. He said that it will withdraw us from nature in order to create an environment that will suit us better. 

This worries many people who think that technology just made all of us dumber, meaner and sadder than we were before. People’s ability to share and understand - Empathy has declined sharply in the 21st century. If it burns out, technology will probably be blamed for the shootout. The evidences are all there: People in countries with a greater internet connection reports lower empathy. By simply leaving a phone between two strangers as they ta;l will lessens their resulting trust. While apparently technology is serving us, it also quietly poisoned the connections that keep us human. 

Yet the technology and the internet, are not naturally antisocial. They can target our empathy, but it will be used differently, they could become a world sized magnifying glass for people to see the  angels in all of us. Many areas of the internet already allows people to broaden their empathy and share their collective good. Different researchers are pointing this to positive technology. If this will become the norm of a wide spectrum of people, the future of life online will be much more kinder than it is in the past. Different platforms must stick to this evidence and their users must also demand them to do so. Since the internet is provided in all parts of the world regardless if it’s an advanced country like the United States or UK or a developing countries like Internet provider in the Philippines, the goal to have empathy and to promote positive technology will always be a challenge. 

Life online changes how we want to be seen and how we want to see other people. Sometimes, we can not be seen at all, our faces can be replaced by an anonymous character string or an avatar. Anonymity can be vital but it also cuts that brake lines on social interactions encouraging people to try the cruelty mask on knowing that it won't cost anything. Cyberbullying follows people into their homes and leaves the victims more suicidal than those who experienced traditional bullying. Data states that 80% of the teens here in the Philippines are experiencing cyberbullying since the Philippine internet providers are giving services not only for businesses but also in school or in their own home. 

The ability of people to connect is what keeps our culture together. By taking away our interactions and broadening the media landscape, the internet has taken away the common ground that we need to understand one another. Each and everyone of us is becoming more confident about our own world that it keeps us separated to other people world, yet, with that we crave for other people’s validation and approval. Empathy requires us to deeply understand that even people who disagree or who don't like us has also a life experience as deep as our own but in the current world of social media, we have always went towards to see the other side as dishonest or obtuse or both if it’s not seeking our own approval. Unless we reverse this current trend and revive the empathy in each one of us, we have little chance of fixing the tears in our social media fabric.