Connection error? Studying the relation between smartphone use and empathy

Abstract

Smartphones are playing an increasingly important part in our lives as they count for one of the main ways of communication. However, as the smartphone’s popularity rises, so does scepticism about its impact on people’s social life and skills, including empathy. In this study, the influence of smartphone use on empathy experiences was examined, using a literature review. This literature review was done with a social cognitive -and neuroscientific approach. First, the neurobiological -and cognitive mechanisms underlying empathy were identified. Then, it was examined how this process is altered by the interference of smartphones and to what is known about the actual effect smartphones have on empathy. Finally, based on this knowledge, possible interventions to enhance empathy are analysed and suggested. It was concluded that empathic responses can be inhibited during online communication, due to the lack of visual and auditive feedback, making it harder to create a simulation and anticipate the other person’s feelings. This is confirmed by research done on internet -and smartphone disorders, however research has yet to be done to the effect of regular use of smartphones. Smartphone use is expected to impact empathy during face to face interaction only when a person shifts its attention from the other to the smartphone (due to e.g. notifications). Finally, it was concluded that smartphones could also be used in interventions to increase empathy in humans