TEDx Talk Empathy

yeah, I think it's true in general. it isn't for me but, that's another topic. People just don't care, if doesn't affect them immediately, they don't care.

That's a sad state our society is getting into but, you can't go around worrying over everyone either, you'd worry yourself to death. There needs to be a balance of when you allow yourself empathy and when you let it go.

 

I'll take that as an assignment to watch the talk, and I'll report back.

---------- Post added 25th Oct 2016 at 06:15 PM ----------

I'm back. As Ted talks go, and I've listened to quite a few, I give this one a 90th percentile score.

Based on the concept that the millennial generation is 40% less "empathetic" than earlier generations, based on a longitudinal study at a University, he draws from his own life numerous examples. The main theme of his talk is that social media and electronic drive people apart and make filtered representations, rather than drawing people closer together. His examples are mostly of his own life, which is a wonderful way to criticize others' assumptions, without threatening them.

His statement that, with facebook, he has "Photoshopped his life" is a theme that makes sense, once one listens to his thesis about how communications in a genuine form are prerequisite to empathy.

So I, the fake Siskel and Ebert, give this one a thumbs up.

Also, this is a theme that I have implemented to a great extent in my own life. I refuse to let Wall Street be the official purveyor of my social life and personal communications. It may make life a little more boring and less exciting, but I think it does make it somewhat more genuine. The one thing I haven't done, and would require a lot of practice to do, is to stand up in front of an audience and give so many personally revealing examples of inspirational and "aha" moments that the the young man does in the talk.

 

I don't know. I'm extremely socially awkward in person, so the internet is my primary form of interaction. I think I'm very empathetic, but in real life I come off as a complete jerk. I'm inclined to believe without social media I would rarely interact with anyone at all, but I guess it's impossible for me to know how much it's affected me (I mean, everybody's on it all the time, but most people are more social than me so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯).