Pune Speak Up: Share,tweet,like,repeat

You cannot build trust online...
When we talk about empathy, which is a part of communication, does not entirely happen in a written format. When we are connecting and tuning with each other physically, it helps our brain develop. Feeling what other person is thinking cannot happen on social media. Compassion, concern, understanding others' feelings, curiosity are all what go together in being empathic. I don't think we can express empathy just by typing words through online communication. Today people are becoming insensitive to their surroundings because they have insulated themselves with a surreal virtual world. People nowadays do not know how to empathize. Internet and computers are great innovation to spread knowledge but heart-to-heart communication cannot happen with these tools.
Ebe Chaney, Leadership & Life Coach


Our bonds are less meaningful...
We are living in an isolation that would have been unimaginable to our ancestors. Over the past three decades, technology has delivered to us a world in which we need not be out of contact for a fraction of a moment. Yet within this world of instant and absolute communication, unbounded by limits of time or space, we suffer from unprecedented alienation. We have less and less actual society. Human beings are actually wired to connect on a real sense and not on virtual sense, which causes circuits in the brain, required for tuning with others (which is the basis of empathy). To be more deprived and less developed, causes us to be more lonely, less empathic and more narcissistic. Loneliness and being alone are not the same thing, but both are on the rise. We meet fewer people and come together less. When we come together sometimes, our bonds are less meaningful and less easy.
Dr Sandeep Kelkar, certified expert in emotional intelligence


It is positive yet negative...
I have met and known many people whom I wouldn't have met if I wasn't such an active part of the social media forums. I have helped few to connect with each other for noble causes, and at the same time social media has helped me in a lot of ways. On the flip side however, I agree that people have been less tolerant and have failed to see and react to real life events because they are so engrossed in their online world. Most of them take social media conversations too seriously and hence form a shell around them, which restricts their ability to see things for what they are, hampering their real life social interactions.
Soham Sabnis, Active Blogger


It is very common irrespective of age...
I do not think that selfish is the correct word. One can say that they have become over engrossed in themselves but that is about it. There is a continuous thought process about how to portray yourself online and this a very common thing irrespective of the age of the person. This is also a platform that helps people make opinions about others without much effort and this is what most people worry about and are extremely careful while posting things online. As far as being empathic is concerned, it has been happening recently and this issue crops up only on the anonymous pages, as ones identity is shielded. I don't think they would actually do it if their names would go along with posts.
Chaula Patel, Counselor and Psychotherapist


It is a very subjective issue...
I completely disagree with the idea of social media making people selfish. There are several NGO's that sought help through the online world and they do get some. Even if it is a hoax for example, 'every 5 likes shall donate 1 rupee to this sick child' with a really sick child's photograph along with it, one will see thousands of likes alongside and so no people are not becoming selfish at all. The profile pictures and self-obsession are just meant to gain an ego boost. Less empathic is however difficult to comment on as this is a completely subjective matter that depends on several other issues as well.
Ritu Panchal, Youth


I don't see the changes in my kids...
As a parent I do not see the kind of harm that is being mentioned here in my children, who are active social media users. The social media helps create awareness and this one thing trumps everything else. There is a generation gap between my children and me and they have a different thought process from mine, which might make us perceive things differently. Being selfish and empathic is not a part of them in the real or on the social world. People just have different ways of expressing their side and its not right to term this as selfish or emphatic.
Marian Paintal, Parent


Less social interactions cause non-emphatic behaviour...
There is a rise of narcissism in people because of self-promotion and that is what is leading to non-emphatic nature. There have also been several other studies that show that they socially isolated people, who evaluate other people less generously and tend to take advantage of the other person's trust. There are several superficial connections that get formed on the social media forums and this rises self-centeredness in people. This self-centeredness further makes people incompetent in deeply appreciating or even understanding the actual problem. The main reason for this is not the excessive use of social media but the lack of regular social interactions which may or may not be the result of excessive use of the social media.
Dr Jui Shankar, Psychology Professor