Oh me, oh my: Today's "Generation Me" is less empathetic than college students of decades past, a new study concludes.
Researchers at the University of Michigan -- who analyzed data on empathy among almost 14,000 college students over the last three decades -- concluded that today's students don't play well with others' feelings. To be exact, there's been a 40 percent decrease in empathy, according to the study.
The culprits that researchers identified as quashing empathy: violent video games that numb youth to pain of others; and the ease of making so-called "friends" online. Inflated expectations also mean college students are busy worrying about themselves and don't have time to empathize with others, researchers said.
Compared with students of the 1980s and '90s, college students today are less likely to agree with statements such as "I sometimes try to understand my friends better by imagining how things look from their perspective" and "I often have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me."
"We found the biggest drop in empathy after the year 2000," said Sara Konrath, a researcher at the university's Institute for Social Research.
Calvin Barry, a Colorado State University student from Boulder, said he thinks college students are more about quantity of friendships than quality.
"Over time, that lessens our communication skills and creates more superficial relationships," Barry said.
He said college students tend to forget about others in the quest to promote themselves and appeal to the masses via Facebook and Twitter and other social media.
Peter Simons, director of the University of Colorado's Institute for Ethical and Civic Engagement, said a counter to the study is that civic engagement programs have proliferated at universities and colleges throughout the country with increasing numbers of students involved in causes to help "the common good."
"If empathy has declined, universities play a key role to expose students to the importance of community engagement, to helping others and our responsibility to be informed and engaged citizens," Simons said.
CU junior Lizzy Roland said she likes to think of herself as empathetic.
"I try to see other peoples' sides of a story before I judge them, and I try not to judge people before getting to know them," Roland said.
But she said social networking has allowed for today's generation to have a lot more friends to keep in touch with, which can make it harder to develop deep friendships.
"I guess our generation wants to be liked by a lot of people, which is easy with social networking," she said.
Contact Camera Staff Writer Brittany Anas at 303-473-1132 or firstname.lastname@example.org.