Slashdot Mirror


Students Show a Dramatic Drop In Empathy

MotorMachineMercenar writes "Several news sources report that today's college students show a precipitous drop in empathy (here's MSNBC's take). The study of 14,000 students shows that students since the year 2000 had 40% less empathy than those 20 and 30 years before them. The article lays out a laundry list of culprits, from child-rearing practices and the self-help movement, to video games and social media, to a free-market economy and income inequality. There's also a link so you can test your very own level of narcissism. Let's hope the Slashdot crowd doesn't break the empathy counter on the downside."

8 of 659 comments (clear)

  1. Who cares? by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 5, Funny

    I don't give a rat's ass about what college kids feel!

    --
    When information is power, privacy is freedom.
    1. Re:Who cares? by An+Onerous+Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Ha! My test said I'm empathetic as hell. Take that, you hard-hearted, non-empathizing bastards!

      --

      You want the truthiness? You can't handle the truthiness!

  2. This Narcissism Crap by Black+Gold+Alchemist · · Score: 5, Funny

    You know, after hearing this, I felt the need to write extensively about the subject on facebook, so everyone can see what I feel.

    --
    Responsibility is an addiction
    Virtue is a temptation
    Community is a cartel
  3. Glaring omission by spruce · · Score: 4, Funny

    Isn't this one we can pretty much all agree is /b/'s fault?

  4. Re:Oh god.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's a shit test, and measures nothing.

    You could show a little more empathy for the people who made the test you insensitive piece of shit.

  5. Re:or to the point THE JOKER IS RARE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    i would put bets that folks that could pull off WHY SO SERIOUS during a real disaster are say 1 in 200,000 worldwide (which means that The Joker has roughly 29 "friends")

    Apparently none of them are mathematicians.

  6. Re:Leftist propaganda by Protoslo · · Score: 4, Funny

    I was convinced that it was going to be some kind of gross "get-off-my-lawn" Republican screed (Kids don't need self esteem! They need to play Cowboys v. Indians outside like the Greatest Generation! The idiot box is destroying their minds!) until I got to the second half where the author blames Ronald Reagan and conservatism for destroying empathy in the millennial generation (!!!). I think that she is not so much liberal as insane.

  7. Re:In what units do you measure empathy? by williamhb · · Score: 5, Funny

    In millilitres per day, of course (from your bleeding heart).

    I'm here all week, try the bean salad...