A 40% drop in empathy in college students
Rhett Smith brought a recent study to my attention. It shows a big drop in empathy among young people.
“We found the biggest drop in empathy after the year 2000,” said Sara
Konrath, a researcher at the U-M Institute for Social Research.“College kids
today are about 40 percent lower in empathy than their counterparts of
20 or 30 years ago, as measured by standard tests of this personality
trait.”
In a related but separate analysis, Konrath found that nationally
representative samples of Americans see changes in other people’s
kindness and helpfulness over a similar time period.
“Many people see the current group of college students – sometimes called ‘Generation Me‘ – as one of the most self-centered, narcissistic, competitive, confident and individualistic in recent history,” said Konrath.
I don’t know about you, but I find this alarming. Feeling empathy for those in need in other countries is one of the primary motivators for deciding to pursue a call to missions. My dream is to raise up a generation of young people to go to the nations in Jesus’ name. And I’m beginning to wonder if it can happen with a digital generation. Yes, they’ll go for a year, but where are the missionaries of tomorrow who will go and learn the language and culture of a foreign people, investing the time needed to earn their trust?
There are so many wonderful young people I know who care deeply about bringing hope to a hurting world. They are laying their lives on the line. And one day they may commit to a longer term response to the needs of a specific nation. So, while I look at this trend, I’m still optimistic that we can in some way reverse it.
But some things have got to change if we are to reverse this trend. For one thing, parents must step up more and enforce appropriate digital boundaries with children. And young people need to wrestle with the issue of what this digital world is doing to them – they need to set their own boundaries.
And we need examples of those like Emmanuel Sadiq in Pakistan, Kari Miller in Uganda, and Julie Anderson who will lay their lives on the line in Jesus’ name.
If you look at these trends and want to do something about them, I suggest reading one of these books:
Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology by Eric Brende
The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr
Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives by John Palfrey and Urs Gasser
Comments (12)
Leave a Reply
I’ve also been talking recently about how this generation of college students can’t handle any more awareness. There are so many issues to tackle, so many problems to solve, so many worthy causes that they’re almost paralyzed. What they need now is the opportunity for action. We can provide that opportunity and help college students move from awareness to advocacy to action!
I don’t know who this study contacted, but I’m not all that sure those figures hold up with the 20somethings I’m around.
Granted, Millenials are hardly bastions of selflessness or poster children for an others orientation, but then neither were we when we were their age.
In the 37 yrs I’ve been in ministry, empathy levels have never been very high with this age group, or any other age group, for that matter.
I do agree with Kelly that Millenials are far more self aware than any previous generation, simply because of their fundamental exposure to the Internet from infancy onward.
What I HAVE observed is the overwhelming rise in dysfunction in their lives, due to the divorces, remarriages, parents living with someone, blending & unblending families, coupled with the issues brought about by abandonment, ignoring, indifference, abuse (sexual, physical, emotional, psychological), neglect, & a hundred other things.
I find many of them emotionally blunted by this life experience.
Dysfunctional lives have become the new norm, not the exception.
And people wonder why I want to minister to 20somethings?! Lots of work here for anyone who’s interested in connecting with this abused generation.
Back in the ’60’s & ’70’s, we Baby Boomers said we were gonna change the world. We did, but in the ways we thought we were
the last sentence in my comment should have read…
Back in the ’60’s & ’70’s, we Baby Boomers said we were gonna change the world. We did, but NOT in the ways we thought we were.
(at the early hour I typed that, it’s a miracle it made sense 😉
Thanks, Seth, for AIM. SO MANY of my 20something peeps are finding definition in their lives because of the experiences they have with AIM.
It’s also a generation that has grown up with (and created) a different kind of entertainment. Ridicule, embarrassment and humiliation are now entertainment. Look at some of the reality TV shows, the comedy, etc. The things that are considered “funny” have changed.
good point, Betty.
thanks, Dan. You are a model to me of what ministry to 20-somethings should look like. I love the partnership.
seth, you’re TOO kind 😉
Curious: How do you measure empathy?
Konrath conducted the meta-analysis, combining the results of 72 different studies of American college students conducted between 1979 and 2009, with U-M graduate student Edward O’Brien and undergraduate student Courtney Hsing.
Compared to college students of the late 1970s, the study found, college students today are less likely to agree with statements such as “I sometimes try to understand my friends better by imagining how things look from their perspective” and “I often have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me.”
Seth, I think the fly in the ointment with that study is that it surveys only college students. what percentage of people between the ages of 18 & 29 are or have been full time college students?
maybe my situation is different, but in the years with House of Grace here in Macon, we were overwhelmingly populated by working people. Their attitudes, no matter their age, usually was not completely in sync with people who could be classified as full time college students.
It would prove very interesting, I think, to have a cross section study of college students, military, working, & double dippers (work part time, college part time)
Sign me up! (& please, God, make a way.)
Well this is sad news but I’m grateful its not true where HPU is concerned.
hello