The pandemic has had a negative impact on the empathy of young Canadians, according to sociologists. The increased amount of time spent online during the pandemic has made young people “meaner,” warns Kaitlynn Mendes, an associate professor at the University of Western Ontario. The declining empathy that occurred during isolation is now causing increased cruelty during in-person interactions, including at school. Parents may not be aware of their children’s increased exposure to online harassment during the pandemic, which is now having damaging consequences.
During an Ontario Medical Association press conference, Mendes said that “teachers really noted that as young people were coming back into school, the way that young people were communicating with each other during lockdown had changed, and they found that their empathy had really decreased.” Mendes, who is a sociologist, attributed this to the lack of important cues that are missing from online interactions, such as eye contact, facial expression, human touch, and even voice intonations, which make it hard to empathize. However, this makes harassment and abuse much easier.
Mendes has not yet completed a comprehensive study about isolation’s mental health impacts on Canadian youth, but based her analysis on anecdotal evidence and a study she conducted in the U.K. She expects to find similar results in her Canadian study. In the U.K. study, 96 percent of British youth between the ages of 13 to 18, teachers and parents reported using more social media during the pandemic. The British youths surveyed reported that more time online led to an increase in their experiences of sexual harassment, misogyny, racism, homophobia, and even various forms of fraud and body shaming.
Young people also reported increased anxiety, depression, and various forms of self-harm in the U.K. due to the challenges of confinement. Parents also became less strict about managing children’s screen time. Mendes called for more preparation, education, support, and scaffolding that goes into young people’s use of digital technologies. She further added that “it’s very clear that when things go wrong, young people do not know where to turn to for help, and that was one of the most striking things that came out of our research.”