Internet use influences digital empathy: a survey on Chinese young adults

Abstract

With the development of science and technology, the Internet occupies more time in daily lives and changed our life from all aspects. Empathy, an important factor for human interaction that is usually considered to improve socializing, is also affected by Internet use. By surveying 193 Chinese adults about their online habits and empathy levels through Davis Empathy scale. We found that the time spent surfing on the Internet, especially the time spent on entertainment, is positively correlated with digital empathy, while playing video games negatively affect people's empathy ability.