Disconnected and Hyperconnected: Understanding Adolescent and Young Adult Empathy Development in the Context of Ubiquitous Information and Communication Technology Use

Abstract

Generation Z, the cohort of current adolescents and young adults, is defined by growing up with near-ubiquitous access to information communication technologies (ICTs). They report higher rates of mental health concerns, exhibit less empathy, and are less likely to concretely help others than past generations. This dissertation used Sameroff’s transactional model of development as a framework through which the relationship between the environment created by ICTs and empathy development in adolescence and young adulthood can be understood (Sameroff, 2009). Attachment theory and Martin Hoffman’s cognitive-affective synthesis were also considered within the framework of Sameroff’s transactional model, to provide more detail and nuance for understanding the development of empathy (Hoffman, 2000; Wallin, 2007). Two variables characterize the environment created by high-frequency ICT use: (a) virtual interaction and (b) high frequency, variety, and duration of interactions. A literature review was conducted synthesizing empirical sources identifying effects of these variables on empathy’s functioning. These psychological sources were integrated with theological and philosophical perspectives on experiencing the subjectivity of others, drawing from phenomenologist philosophers such as Max Scheler and Edith Stein as well as St. John Paul II’s Thomistic personalist understanding of subjectivity. Analysis of these sources showed that ICTs quantitatively and qualitatively change empathy-related phenomenon. The virtual nature of ICTs dissociate affective and cognitive empathic processes and diminish experiences of intersubjectivity. The high frequency of interactions cause fatigue and overload which narrow empathic capacities and lead to experiences of helplessness. These variables affect how people are able to engage in prosocial behaviors, leading to biased and inaccurate empathic processes and increasing empathy and helping behaviors focused on relieving personal distress. These findings were then applied to the transactions that characterize empathy development in adolescence and young adulthood. The virtual and hyperconnected environment of ubiquitous ICT use inhibits empathy development through disrupting integration of affective and cognitive empathic processes, increasing opportunities for avoidance of development tasks, and decreasing rewarding experiences of intersubjectivity and prosocial behaviors that facilitate empathy development.