Empathy & Technology Bulletin
Discussion of "Empathy & Technology Bulletin"
I was particularly interested in how technology has influenced our modes of connection in general and empathy specifically. In order to create this bulletin, I looked into the statistics that are available on the correlation between empathy and technology use. I believe this is a question that students will have very strong opinions about. I don't want to condemn devices-- in fact I think it might be helpful to begin this discussion with students about the ways in which technology connects us. Rather, I think the technology variable opens up conversation to a number of important questions about our definitions of empathy, such as: do you have to personally inhabit the same space as someone to feel empathy for them? If not, what do you need to know about someone to feel empathy for them? What makes another person feel real to us-- being able to see from their perspective or being able to see them within the context or their circumstances? What about the way we live our lives helps us forge those connections? What hinders us from doing so?
This exercise also gives students the opportunity to consider how they might apply the lessons they have learned from To Kill a Mockingbird in their own lives. The question of how technology informs our understanding of empathy is interesting in and of itself. However, technology is also valuable as a jumping-off point to discuss the modernization of Maycomb's lessons. Perhaps the means by which we connect are different today than they were in the 1930s, but are the same stumbling blocks to empathy still getting in the way? What does it mean that our methods of communication have gotten more sophisticated but our communication itself is still facing the same obstacles in terms of achieving genuine human (and humane) connection?
This exercise also gives students the opportunity to consider how they might apply the lessons they have learned from To Kill a Mockingbird in their own lives. The question of how technology informs our understanding of empathy is interesting in and of itself. However, technology is also valuable as a jumping-off point to discuss the modernization of Maycomb's lessons. Perhaps the means by which we connect are different today than they were in the 1930s, but are the same stumbling blocks to empathy still getting in the way? What does it mean that our methods of communication have gotten more sophisticated but our communication itself is still facing the same obstacles in terms of achieving genuine human (and humane) connection?