Teaching Empathy in the Digital Age: Why It’s More Critical Than Ever
- Connor Cohen, LMSW
- May 13
- 4 min read
What Is Empathy?
Empathy is defined as the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. What many don’t often realize is that empathy is a skill — one that can be taught, nurtured, and strengthened over time. And in 2025, it’s needed now more than ever.
Today, even as technology connects us to the world in the blink of an eye, it often puts up invisible barriers between us. We can send a message halfway around the globe in seconds, but how deeply are we truly communicating? How well are we truly connecting?
Research by MIT's Sherry Turkle highlights how excessive reliance on digital communication can diminish face-to-face interactions, leading to a 40% decline in empathy among college students over the past two decades.
What Does Empathy Look Like In 2025?
We live in a world where what we know has quickly outpaced how well we know it. As our lives move increasingly online, empathy has taken a backseat. To be empathetic is to connect with our shared humanity — not just with those who are like us, but especially with those who are different. Yet in a world of ones and zeros, where words on a screen can feel flat and detached, it's all too easy to forget the real people behind every comment, every post, every message.
The "online disinhibition effect" explains how anonymity and lack of face-to-face interaction online can lead individuals to behave in ways they wouldn't in person, often reducing empathetic responses.
Words still have meaning. They always have, and they always will. But with the speed of today’s digital life — where it feels like the world is moving at 5,000 miles an hour — our students are just trying to keep up. There’s little time to pause, reflect, and truly think about what we’re saying, or the impact our words may have.
A study found that nearly half of teens use the internet "almost constantly," which can impact their ability to engage in meaningful, empathetic communication.
Empathy is intentional. Some students are natural helpers — they tune into the emotions of others almost instinctively. Others struggle to step outside their own experience. And that's natural too. Feeling empathy sometimes requires us to face uncomfortable truths, to confront the effects of our actions. In the digital world, it's easy to post a comment and move on, to scroll past someone's pain without a second thought.
Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) programs have been shown to effectively teach empathy and improve student behavior.
Cyber Civics and Empathy
That’s why teaching empathy matters more than ever. And it’s exactly why Cyber Civics was created — to slow the world down just enough for students to reflect, to understand, and to connect with care. Through hands-on lessons in Digital Citizenship, Ethical Tech Use, and Digital Respect, Cyber Civics gives students the tools to pause before they post, to think about the person behind the screen, and to practice kindness intentionally.
A study involving 900 students across six countries found that a short program of empathy lessons led to measurable, positive changes in their conduct and emotional awareness.
Cyber Civics helps bring out the human connection in the digital world for students. Watch below for our lesson on showing kindness online.
Reasons To Hope:
Recent studies indicate that empathy among young Americans is on the rise, countering previous concerns about its decline. A trend that is promising for the increasingly digital future.
It is up to us to encourage the growth of empathy within our students. To build a better, kinder digital world. While the trends are promising, we must keep the momentum going and keep the kindness movement growing!
Moving Forward With Empathy
There’s a famous phrase: "In a world where you can be anything, be kind."
It still holds true. But perhaps today, it needs a small update.
In 2025 — in a digital world where you can post anything, say anything, be anyone — be a digital empath. Choose empathy. Lead with kindness. Because online or offline, kindness travels farther than we could ever imagine.
References:
Empathy Among Young Americans on the Rise. Psychology Today+4Lilly Family School of Philanthropy+4Vox+4
Turkle, S. (2015). Reclaiming Conversation. Time+1Glamour+1
Suler, J. (2004). The Online Disinhibition Effect. CASEL+8Counselling Tutor+8Wikipedia+8
Social Media and Mental Health in Children and Teens. Home+1Child Mind Institute+1
An evaluation of a school-based social and emotional learning programme. University of San Diego+6ScienceDirect+6CASEL+6
One term of empathy training measurably improved classroom behaviour. SELF+10University of Cambridge+10ScienceDirect+10
Author:
Connor joined the Cyber Civics team in 2023 with experience in both social work and marketing. In 2020 he earned his LMSW in Texas where he worked as a therapist in a private practice. He made the switch from direct practice to marketing and worked with therapists to help market the profession and practice. Connor now works for Cyber Civics and Cyberwise. After earning his Bachelors in English, Political Science and Counseling from the University of North Texas, he went on to receive his Masters in Social Work from the University of Texas at Arlington. Continuing his studies, he earned a certificate in Digital Marketing from the University of Texas in 2022. He resides in Houston, TX with his fiancee and dog Leia. Connor feels that his role at Cyberwise and Cybercivics is the perfect place to make the much needed changes that help promote the mission of increasing digital literacy and online safety.