Importantíssimo tema a ler em interessante artigo …
Estamos a ser transformados pela tecnologia da comunicação
em 'cyborgs' enfurecidos,isolados num autismo egocêntrico, cada vez mais
cépticos sobre a Natureza Humana e cada vez menos empáticos com o próximo !?
OVOODOCORVO
Decline in Human Empathy Creates Global Risks in the 'Age of
Anger'
Our interconnected world has never had more lonely, angry
people. Is technology responsible for a decline in human empathy?
As today’s economy grows more interconnected, a new global
phenomenon has emerged: the growing number of people who feel disconnected and
isolated.
Technology is revolutionizing the workplace, and creating
unprecedented opportunities for business and society as the physical, digital
and biological worlds increasingly merge. While technological change always
causes stress, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is marked by a blurring of the
line between the human and the technological, according to the Global Risks
Report 2019, published by the World Economic Forum in partnership with Zurich
Insurance Group.
The result of this blurring has been an increase in
loneliness, rising polarization and a corresponding decline in empathy. And
unlike previous waves of globalization, today’s feelings of discontent aren’t
just confined to displaced workers. For business leaders, the challenge is to
create a corporate culture of openness and diversity that is responsive to the
concerns of employees and customers.
“We are going to need
new ways of managing technology and globalization that respond to the
insecurity that many people experience,” says John Scott, Head of
Sustainability Risk at Zurich Insurance Group.
"We are going to need new ways of managing technology
and globalization that respond to the era of insecurity that many people
experience." --John Scott Head of Sustainability Risk
The Effects of Technology on Society
Technology is a complex factor in rising levels of anger and
loneliness. The Global Risk Report notes that in a recent study, technology was
cited as a major cause of loneliness and social isolation by 58 percent of
survey respondents in the United States and 50 percent in the United Kingdom.
But the same survey found that social media makes it easier for people to
“connect with others in a meaningful way” and that lonely people were no more
likely to use social media.
Pervasive digital technology has also blurred the boundary
between the workplace and home. Work-related emails often start before office
hours and continue long after close of business. A 2016 study by Pew Research
Center found that nearly one-third of American adults never turn off their
smartphones.
Even as professional pressures increasingly encroach upon
private life, people often don’t have traditional support networks at home. The
percentage of single-person households in the U.K. has almost doubled over the
last 50 years, with similar increases in the U.S., Germany and Japan. In urban
capitals, the number of “solitaries” is even higher: 50 percent in Paris, 60
percent in Stockholm. In Midtown Manhattan, 94 percent of households are
single-person.
Urbanization weakens social bonds not just in cities, but
also in the communities and households that migrant workers leave behind, and
growing social isolation is a trend in established and emerging economies
alike. The proportion of people feeling lonely in the U.K. climbed to 22
percent in 2017 from an average of 17 percent in 2014-2016, with a sharp drop
in the number of people who reported never feeling lonely, according to a
survey published by the Cabinet Office.
These results mirror those of a study in American
Sociological Review that looked at the number of close friends that people
have. In 1985, the average number of close friends was 2.9; by 2004 it was 2.1.
The percentage of people who responded that they had no close friends at all
tripled over the same period.
"In 1985 people had an average 2.9 close friends; by
2004 it was 2.1." --American Sociological Review
“Emotionally, people are quite lonely. We’re seeing in many
societies a kind of breakdown of family, or connection with family,” Scott
says. “I think it’s also a demographic thing; younger people are more tuned
into using technology and social media, and to live in a world talking to
machines through chatbots. That can create all sorts of emotions of fear and
frustration, and in some cases that frustration can get expressed as anger.”
Individual psychological and emotional problems can become
collective concerns when loneliness and frustration meet populist and identity
politics—an emerging reality in what is becoming known as the “age of anger.”
According to the Global Risks Report, these trends may pose a significant
threat to geopolitical stability.
"Levels of empathy fell by 48% between 1979 and
2009." --Personality and Social Psychology Review
“Individual harms matter in themselves, but they can also
feed into wider systemic risks—for example, potential political, societal,
technological and environmental disruptions,” Scott says.
The decline in empathy is not just anecdotal. One study of
American students published in Personality and Social Psychology Review
revealed that levels of empathy in this demographic fell by 48 percent between
1979 and 2009. Possible causes of the growing empathy gap include increasing
materialism, changing parenting methods and the digital echo chamber, in which
people anchor themselves in close-knit groups of like-minded people. Such
echo-chamber effects aren’t always as obvious as those seen on social media.
For example, researchers have found that the matching processes used on dating
platforms can also weaken social bonds.
The Global Risks Report highlights that while online
connections can be empathetic, research suggests that the degree of empathy is
six times weaker than for real-world interactions. However, technology’s impact
on empathy may not be wholly negative; some observers believe that virtual
reality will be an “engine for empathy,” and that emotionally responsive robots
could tackle loneliness, particularly in care-related settings.
But at what point does increasing isolation and the decline
in empathy morph into a social risk?
“Complex transformations in three areas—societal,
technological and work-related are creating an increasingly anxious, unhappy
and lonely world, where anger is increasing and empathy appears to be in
decline,” Scott says. “A world of increasingly divided and angry people would
be likely to generate volatile electoral results and to decrease the chance of
solving complex multi-stakeholder global risks. If empathy were to continue to
decline, the risks might be even starker.”
How Business Leaders Can Help
No business can be fully insulated from the increasing
populism and decreasing empathy evident in society, but Scott believes that
this risk can be managed with a corporate ethos that is alert, diverse and
responsive.
The business world can take a number of steps to help
mitigate the consequences of the human consequences of technology.
Improve mental health and well-being in the workplace
In the 19th century, physical health and safety rules and
practices reshaped work in many industrializing economies. In the 21st century,
mental health and safety rules and practices could play an analogous role by
ensuring that workplace conditions are appropriate for an increasingly
knowledge-based economy. “A number of steps can be taken to protect
organizations from systemic risks, including thinking small, looking for early
warning signs and encouraging skepticism through diversity, with a culture of open
communication and mitigating our cognitive biases,” he says.
Engage with society in a more meaningful way
For decades the mantras of shareholder value and the view
that the “business of business is business” has pervaded Western developed
economies. Increasingly in a more global, technology-dominated world, with less
certainty, especially for younger people, there is a consumer and employee-led
desire for something more meaningful in their lives. Businesses that can create
and convey a sense of purpose and meaning have a greater chance of connecting
with employees and customers. Scott advocates forging a new concept of
private-public partnership, in which workplace practices and policies help
shrink individual echo chambers and strengthen the bonds of the broader
community, and an inclusive business environment nurtures social affinity and
engagement.
“Empathy underwrites all political systems that aspire to
the liberal condition,” states the Global Risks Report, “and no amount of law
or regulation will overcome a lack of empathy.”
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