Facing The Empathy Deficit | Ari Saperstein | TEDxClaremontColleges

"We're half as empathetic as the generation before us... and I don’t know if we care." That’s the issue Ari Saperstein explores in his talk about the “empathy deficit.” Saperstein examines the impact of social media and technology on emotional intelligence and human behavior. In telling his own story about hurt and forgiveness that spans a decade, he illustrates the importance of empathy.
Ari Saperstein (Pitzer College '15) is one of two winners of the 2015 TEDxClaremontColleges Student Speaker Competition, earning him a spot at the 2015 TEDx conference. Previously, he attended the Edmund Burke School in Washington D.C. and the Iowa Young Writers' Workshop.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at ted.com/tedx

[@crescentrose]

Agreed, absolutely brilliant. How did Ari see all of this at such a young age? Further...to get on a stage and talk about it so genuinely, so vulnerably, so articulately??? His parents did something very very good!

[@Ade1892]

"when are you ever without your Phone?"... 🤦🏻‍♀️ Me watching this ted talk on my Phone

[@anufajemisin4348]

Same here.

[@noneofyourbusiness5441]

Amazing ted talk . One of my top favorites for sure. I am speechless beyond that.

[@artshaman7677]

Absolutely brilliant. A wonderful look at how mindless we can become and how to get over ourselves and start to actually care about others again. Super!

[@stellaferraz1668]

This was amazing! I am so glad I had the privilege to watch this talk now. It is one of the most meaningful talks I've ever watched! Congrats, man!

[@wesleyknight5684]

Wow I'm 39 and I've never had empathy. I also didn't know that it was something that is learned.

[@sarahbear6777]

This is one of the best Ted talks I think I’ve ever seen! Good job! 👍 Thank you for this!

[@kenseiff2149]

Amazing Talk!

[@stuartwilson2277]

Amazing talk, thank you. I'll be showing this to my sons.

[@antoniojimenez7895]

This was such a great talk!

[@kbilisoly9355]

Thank you

[@elsewherehouse]

I am in my 40s and am just discovering info about childhood emotional neglect. For a good portion of my life I lacked empathy. I didn't know how to get it. My mom also lacked it. It makes you unaware of the effects of alot of what you do. I am pretty sure that trauma causes this. I am pretty sure there's skilled people that can help adults (re)discover empathy. Does anyone out there have any suggestions?

[@karaspurr]

John Kempf I can relate to you. I can cry in a second over anything I watch on a screen but in life I find myself being to strong and expecting to much. I grew up on a farm, raised to be hard. My grandmother was 40 when she had my mother so I believed that had to do a lot with the lack of love. My mother loves me very much but she shows it in her own way. My father passed when I was 18 but he was sick for 2 yrs pryer. He lifted a hive on the bobcat will getting fill dirt. I got my first job at 13 so I wouldn't have to work the farm. (Didn't work) I got into college at 16 but my mother made me feel like it was nothing because it was an art school. What I'm getting at is sometimes life is hard and even through I don't agree with people in this world caring so much about the littlest of issues. I'm ok with just caring about my family and nothing else.

[@maximellow5745]

John Kempf psychologists. It’s literally there job. Good luck.

[@beko____]

Hey. How are you doing in regard to becoming more empathetic?

[@wesleyknight5684]

I'm 39 and just now are realizing that my mental health isn't normal. My Dr. thinks I'm a sociopath, maybe I am but my mom was 14 and my 16 when they had me. I never had a childhood. I ran away when I was 16.

[@godsdelightagu]

This is amazing!

[@septemberdawnluketz]

Great video. Fantastic job.

[@jamato8461]

Awesome talk! It took Josh a long time to figure out why something he thought he saw for a moment made him so angry and so afraid. Now some cruelly would call him a closet case. His fear made him lash out. Poor Josh, it's almost poignant now. I'm sorry that he made you feel so bad at 12, too. Great talk.

[@TheWhatever00000]

This is a great talk! Too bad it hasn't been watched early enough...

[@samarkazimi4833]

Empathy deficit disorder can also be a natural disorder, it's not just social media....

[@theenchantedforester4661]

true. Psychopaths are like that

[@radicalwings]

Or even poverty, or just trauma, not just a tv or having a cellphone

[@acardinalconsideration824]

Yes, but the point of the talk was that the average person has become significantly less empathetic in recent years due to being able to hide behind a screen. Josh, for example.

[@jenz9403]

Sooo impressive. I can't believe that this video got so little views while it nearly changes my life.

[@xiuchuntian]

Wow, you are great !!! Other than that I am left speechless !!!

[@khushivers3]

My das muth mars by not watching laffable but he doesn't laff shinchan

[@khushivers3]

Tgatscy I'm mpre empsyhyic hspcthan peersmy age n Priyanshi Tanishq gunu call me chakki bacchi even saksham vsni

[@khushivers3]

She was completely. Live bombing me

[@prettyparadoxicalwoman8285]

Its because of tv. I went off grid a bit ago... n before u could watch a person killed before without a feeling on tv. I walk past tv now and see news and I legit start crying if it's good act or bad.

[@jananijan4422]

There are enemies.there are narcissists. There are dark people. They don't deserve vulnerability. I have found dark hearts with dark intentions :(

[@pialove3988]

This is pretty interesting. It is about mental health without really ever saying it. I think the empathy deficit we face has a lot to do with mental health. Some personality disorders deal with a lack of empathy.

[@kyleosullivan9478]

I love this video, but it's a little too edgy to show my 8th graders. Is there a censored version of this available?

[@benedictrose650]

If he doesn't mind twenty second of video cropping or fast forward and the swearing isnt their.. :-)

[@budcat7]

These students are the product of parents no doubt.....hmmm.

[@-MerryWeather]

That is just Michigan

[@natashasemrau3670]

Wow, l find it had to put the damn thing down. Got to put the damn thing down! Hey it's a zombie kind of feeling.🤔🤔🤔

[@sara-dz9jh]

How did he call Dylan if Dylan was deaf?

[@KahHongTan]

His father was deaf not him

[@khushivers3]

I don't rmbr the healing but yhere was one concludsion she rwad my texts still iynores I j need my ss bavk the conclusion is that she's a fkn sociopath

[@ewkyro7832]

Empathy is not learned tf

[@Sankhretseul]

Russians lack of the empathy.