Empathy_in_online_communities
Empathy has been studied in the context of online communities as it pertains to enablers of interpersonal communication, anonymity, as well as barriers to online relationships, such as ambiguity, cyberbullying and internet trolling. The importance of this topic can not be underestimated as the landscape of online use drastically changed or evolved following the Covid-19 Pandemic of 2020 which forced many in the workplace, schools and even novice tech users into new and uncomfortable situations. This forced much more time spent and reliance on the virtual world, through our computers, phones, and tablets. Schools and workplaces moved online consumers also moved online for basic needs like grocery shopping, medical appointments and a host of new virtual services that impacted all generations.
In online communications context becomes very important in understanding of people and is foundational for empathy. The important role of context includes intrapersonal relationships or personal disposition the interpersonal that includes our interactions with family, peers, workplaces, and schools; and the environmental that includes how we move through our community.
For example, researchers Sameer Hinduja and Justin Patchin studied a national sample of 1,644 12- to 15-year-olds in the United States, and discovered that youth with higher levels of empathy were significantly less likely to cyberbully others. Cognitive empathy (understanding the feelings, or taking the perspective, of others) was linked to lower cyberbullying, while affective empathy (feeling or experiencing the emotions of someone else) was not.
Notably, it also has been found that on online health support communities members tend to exhibit higher levels of empathic concern.[1][2]