Beyond BFFs: Using Technology to Promote Empathy YTH 2015
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The document discusses using text messaging to promote empathy, especially among youth. It summarizes research showing declines in empathy and increases in narcissism in recent years. One study is described that found sending daily text messages about the feelings of others increased empathy and self-esteem. The presentation concludes by describing plans for a larger follow-up study testing whether varying the number of daily empathy-focused texts impacts outcomes. The goal is to explore how mobile technologies can be used to improve social relationships.
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Beyond BFFs: Using Technology to Promote Empathy YTH 2015
- 1. Beyond BFFs: Using Texting to Promote Empathy Janxin Leu, Ph.D Director of Product Innovation HopeLab #YTHLive @JLeuHope @HopeLab
- 2. Every second… 1,500+ Instagram photos uploaded 1,700 Tumblr posts posted 8,000 Tweets sent 50,000+ Facebook likes 95,000 YouTube videos are viewed 240,000+ text messages are sent #YTHLive @JLeuHope @HopeLab
- 9. “It is a mistake to suppose that any technological innovation has a one- sided effect. Every technology is both a burden and a blessing.” #YTHLive @JLeuHope @HopeLab
- 11. How can we harness mobile tech to improve the ways that we relate to each other? Sara Konrath, Ph.D Indiana University #YTHLive @JLeuHope @HopeLab
- 12. What is empathy? “Experiencing perspectives and feelings that are more congruent with another’s situation than with one’s own.” Decety & Lamm (2006) #YTHLive @JLeuHope @HopeLab
- 20. Twenge, Konrath, Foster, Campbell, & Bushman (2008) Narcissism Konrath, O’Brien, & Hsing (2011) Empathic concern #YTHLive @JLeuHope @HopeLab
- 21. Konrath, O’Brien, & Hsing (2011) Empathic concern #YTHLive @JLeuHope @HopeLab
- 31. But does this work? #YTHLive @JLeuHope @HopeLab
- 32. 83 participants 2 weeks, 6 messages/day 2 conditions #YTHLive @JLeuHope @HopeLab Empathy Self-Esteem
- 33. Aggressive Beliefs #YTHLive @JLeuHope @HopeLab Self-esteem condition
- 37. what’s next? #YTHLive @JLeuHope @HopeLab
- 38. Sara’s pilot Control 83 participants 2 weeks, 6 messages/day2 conditions #YTHLive @JLeuHope @HopeLab Empathy
- 39. Empathy Self-Esteem 600 participants 2 weeks, 1 vs. 3 vs. 5 messages/day2 conditions Sara’s pilot #YTHLive @JLeuHope @HopeLab
- 40. #YTHLive @JLeuHope @HopeLab TextToConnect.org Recruiting ages 13-18
- 43. TextToConnect.org #YTHLive @JLeuHope @HopeLab Recruiting ages 13-18
Notas del editor
- Q: By a showing of your hands… How many of you have, in total, sent and received 130 text messages in the past 24 hours? … We’ll come back to this statistic in a bit. But consider this: Every second, there are: Over 1500 Instagram photos are uploaded 1700 Tumblr posts Over 8000 Tweets are sent Over 50000 Facebook likes Almost 95000 YouTube videos are viewed Over 240000 text messages are sent 21 billion texts sent per day worldwide 4.5 billion Facebook likes per day
- These numbers are mind-boggling, aren’t they?
- And what’s interesting is that most of these activities are ways of connecting with others. And every single one of them can be done with a cellphone. Cellphones have become such complex devices, with extraordinary capacities to connect with people and the world around us. We can search for information and news, post our opinions in blogs and forums, and interact with loved ones and strangers using email, text messages, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and messaging apps like WhatsApp. No wonder so many of us keep our cellphones within arms’ reach most of the time.
- This is all great! But cellphones don’t always connect us.
- How many have ever experienced the following: Someone screened or blocked a call from you? Someone got out their phone in the middle of a conversation?
- You received a text message that hurt your feelings, whether it was accidental or intentional? Most of us have experienced each of these, and if we want to be honest, most of us are guilty of these.
- Studies have found that just seeing a cell phone in the room makes people feel less connected to conversation partners, and less likely to help others who need it. Cellphones are also frequently used to bully people without having to look them in the eye. Ironically, cell phones seem to prime social disconnection while at the same time being a major global force for connecting people. These are just a few little examples of how cell phones can distance us from each other.
- Our society has been experiencing a massive technological change, leading to many discussions and debates about the effects of new social technologies, including cell phones. These debates consistently reappear any time new technologies have been introduced in our history and can often polarize people to either praise or condemn these innovations. In 1992, which incidentally, was when the first text message was sent, Neil Postman wrote in his book Technopoly: “It is a mistake to suppose that any technological innovation has a one-sided effect. Every technology is both a burden and a blessing.”
- We are HopeLab, a non-profit research and development organization that works to harness the power and appeal of technology to improve human health and well-being.
- And for a while now, we’ve been tackling the question of how can we harness the potential of mobile technology to improve the ways that we relate to each other. Enter Sara Konrath, a professor at Indiana University who we’ve been working with to find an answer to this question.
- In her lab, Sara studies empathy and altruism. What exactly is empathy? Empathy – Experiencing perspectives and feelings that are more congruent with another’s situation than with one’s own The “glue” of social interactions More emotional: empathic concern e.g. “I often have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me” More cognitive: perspective taking e.g. “I sometimes try to understand my friends better by imagining how things look from their perspective” People scoring higher on empathy… Are polite and courteous Concerned with others’ needs and desires Give more money, time, and care to others Less narcissistic, and less aggressive In romantic relationships, more invested
- So why is empathy important? Psychologically, empathy inspires people to help others and avoid harming them. It helps people see a common humanity in others who might seem very different from us at first. A world where we could not feel empathy and compassion for others would be a scary place.
- So why is empathy important? Psychologically, empathy inspires people to help others and avoid harming them. It helps people see a common humanity in others who might seem very different from us at first. A world where we could not feel empathy and compassion for others would be a scary place.
- So why is empathy important? Psychologically, empathy inspires people to help others and avoid harming them. It helps people see a common humanity in others who might seem very different from us at first. A world where we could not feel empathy and compassion for others would be a scary place.
- But empathy has psychological and physiological benefits as well. Empathic people have a good quality of life: they are happier, have more meaning in life, and have fewer stress hormones during stressful events, like when giving a speech. People with healthy social connections have stronger immune systems, healthier hearts, and even live longer than those who are less socially connected. And so in sum, empathy has significant effects on this mind-body connection.
- Lastly, empathic people are also more likeable: The #1 trait that both men and women look for in romantic partners is kindness. As Carl Rogers, the founder of person-centered therapy said, when someone truly listens to you and understands you, “it feels damn good.”
- Lastly, empathic people are also more likeable: The #1 trait that both men and women look for in romantic partners is kindness. As Carl Rogers, the founder of person-centered therapy said, when someone truly listens to you and understands you, “it feels damn good.”
- Lastly, empathic people are also more likeable: The #1 trait that both men and women look for in romantic partners is kindness. As Carl Rogers, the founder of person-centered therapy said, when someone truly listens to you and understands you, “it feels damn good.”
- But the good news is that empathy is changeable.
- It’s true that some people are born with a little more empathy than others (“natural born carers”).
- But it’s also true that dozens of studies have found that there are ways to help people become more empathic.
- It’s like a muscle–some of us are born with some natural athletic tendency, but all of us are born with muscles that can be strengthened with practice.
- In the past year or so, we at HopeLab have been working closely with Sara to figure out how to use cell phones to help teens become more empathic. Why teens? Although anyone can become more empathic, adolescence is a critical time for the development of higher order cognitive skills such as perspective taking. And there are a number of valid issues that come up specifically with teens and cellphones, ranging from cyberbullying to privacy/safety concerns to sexting.
- Why text messaging? There are so many different ways of communicating, we’ve just chosen texting because of it’s so widely used and so inexpensive to implement. Teens are heavy cell phone users. Remember the statistic at that we started with? According to recent research, 75% of teens text and young Americans send and receive over 130 text messages per day, so you can see just how prevalent this form of communication is in their lives.
- When we think of cellphones, however, we don’t often think about their potential use as habit formers, and when we do, we associate them with bad habits. Yet public health researchers have been using text messages to create healthy habits for a decade. For example, text messages can help people to quit smoking or monitor their blood sugar levels if they are diabetic. Text messaging has even broken into the mental health field in attempting to treat eating disorders and schizophrenia. Why not use cell phones to build better relationship skills?
- We have recently launched an empathy-building text message program called Text2Connect. This 2-week program is designed to give people practice around feeling with others, imagining others’ perspectives, and doing kind little things to other people throughout the day.
- We have recently launched an empathy-building text message program called Text2Connect. This 2-week program is designed to give people practice around feeling with others, imagining others’ perspectives, and doing kind little things to other people throughout the day.
- Here are a couple of examples: In your next conversation, pay attention to the other person’s body language to understand what they are feeling. Take a second to think of a close friend. Now do something nice for them today!
- But does this work?
- In a pilot test on young adults, Sara tested the effect of empathy text messages compared to control messages that focused on building people’s self-esteem, for example.
- When people returned to her lab after the 2-week program, she found that the empathy program seemed to be effective. For example, it reduced aggressive beliefs, especially in males.
- But of course that’s not too surprising. After getting 6 messages a day reminding them to think of others, they probably figured out the purpose of the study.
- What’s more surprising is what happened 6 months later. A member of Sara’s research team sent each participant a text message on a Friday night saying “Stop txting me u jerk!” The participants had no idea that the texter was really from Sara’s lab.
- She coded participants'’ responses and found that people who had received the empathy training had nicer replies than those in the control group.
- So what’s next?
- We are now in the middle of testing this program in a larger group, and among teenagers. This time… We’re hoping to better understand how many messages are most effective and for which types of teens. After we run this study, if everything works out, we will be looking for ways to disseminate it more broadly.
- We are now in the middle of testing this program in a larger group, and among teenagers. This time… We’re hoping to better understand how many messages are most effective and for which types of teens. After we run this study, if everything works out, we will be looking for ways to disseminate it more broadly.
- If you’re interested in learning more or spreading the word about the Text to Connect program, you can go to TextToConnect.org. Thank you!
- Empathy is important, yet it’s declining over time in the US in recent years. It hard to know why, but technology likely has some role in disconnecting us. At the same time it also has great potential in re-connecting us. I would love to talk more with others here who also sense that tension, and want to work together to build a more empathic society.
- There’s no doubt that over the past decade social technologies have radically transformed our daily lives. But can we harness this revolution to help people build skills and cultivate experiences that help them overcome life’s challenges in healthy ways? This formula for resilience – purpose, connection and control – provides a framework for all of us as designers and technologists, road map to how we can help people thrive. I personally am excited to see what we are all able to create by consciously designing with these factors in mind.
- If you’re interested in learning more or spreading the word about the Text to Connect program, you can go to TextToConnect.org. Thank you!