"I am an independent freelance professional working in the
fast-changing field of new communications technology, predominantly where
it impacts on the lives of children, parenting, schools and the wider
society. I am passionate about education and helping people to use the
technology to really make a positive difference. Having worked for and led
innovative non-profit organizations over the last 20 years, I first and
foremost love collaborating with people, making projects successful and
working for change. "
"Just as a programme like "Roots of Empathy" introduced a live baby to
help children re-connect and gain an empathetic understanding and connect
with their feelings so we now need a new understanding, a new "e-pathy" to
remind us of our humanity and curb the actions of many internet users who
risk becoming "comfortably numb."
(Video
Transcriptions: If you would like to take empathic action
and create a transcription of this video, check
the volunteers page. The transcriptions will make it easier for
other viewers to quickly see the content of this video.)
If we really want to care about online influences and
behaviour and stem the tide of casual cruelty, anti-social behaviour and
glamorisation of violence, we can't simply blame the tools or new
interactive social media and games. No, what we need is to start to
creatively rekindle our understanding of empathy for a connected
e-world. You can't download this as a plug-in, or a patch, Just as a
programme like "Roots of Empathy" introduced a live baby to help
children re-connect and gain an empathetic understanding and connect
with their feelings so we now need a new understanding, a new "e-pathy"
to remind us of our humanity and curb the actions of many internet users
who risk becoming "comfortably numb."
19/07/2012 - Online Empathy - Erosion or Evolution?
What picture, or metaphor comes to mind, when you think of Empathy? A
waiting outstretched hand, a mother stooping down to kiss a child's
scraped knee, a silent long embrace at the end of a funeral service?
It's different for different people because empathy by its very nature
is uniquely personal. Indeed it requires a courageous leap of compassion
to enter into another's personal world and imaginatively experience what
that person is going through. Little wonder many of us are reluctant to
go further than the sympathetic smile; true empathy involves
vulnerability.
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I would like a few
more questions specifically on how technology and social media in
particular can help promote empathy but can also make us “comfortably
numb” !
If you can have a quick look at some of the films at
http://www.carrick-davies.com/mpp
that would be great as in part this project has sought to help YP
re-connect with their feelings and express how they feel when things go
wrong online. – please note that this project is specifically focussed
on young people who are excluded from school or are particularly
vulnerable. There’s a powerpoint I produced on this project if you see
the slides at
http://www.carrick-davies.com/research/vulnerable-young-people
Slide 19 is particularly important.
