Must finish at 11:45pm 6 pages

Essay #4: The Researched Argument “Empathy is about standing in someone else's shoes, feeling with his or her heart, seeing with his or her eyes. Not only is empathy hard to outsource and automate, but it makes the world a better place.” ~ Daniel H. Pink “Most of our communication technologies began as substitutes for an impossible activity…. But then a funny thing happened: we began to prefer the diminished substitutes. It’s easier to make a phone call than to make the effort to see someone in person. Leaving a message on someone’s machine is easier than having a phone conversation – you can say what you need to say without a response; it’s easier to check in without becoming entangled. So we began calling when we knew no one would pick up. Shooting off an email is easier still, because one can further hide behind the absence of vocal inflection, and of course there’s no chance of accidentally catching someone. With texting, the expectation for articulateness is further reduced, and another shell is offered to hide in. Each step ‘forward’ has made it easier – just a little – to avoid the emotional work of being present, to convey information rather than humanity.” ~ Jonathan Safran Foer “It is becoming increasingly clear that the work of making big changes in the world is not limited to massive nonprofits or peacekeeping missions. It can come from anywhere, from an individual with a YouTube account all the way to a big- budget business. We live in a world increasingly connected through social networks that make it possible for all of us to make those big changes the world really needs.” ~ Jennifer Aaker What does it mean to act humanely? What happens to empathy when you no longer need to experience humanity face to face? How might the “birth” or “creation” of a “virtual self” bolster or hinder our relationships with our fellow humans? Can we use technology to broaden our experiences and perspectives, increasing our humanity and empathy or does it only take us further from seeing our fellow humans as…humans? These are “big” questions that will take some serious thought, reflection, and research in order to form a determined and educated opinion. And they are our starting point for the final essay in this critical thinking through writing course. For this essay, you will be reading, researching, and reviewing essays and articles that deal with our humanity, our morals and our ethics, and more particularly how our attitudes, ideologies, and even our emotional responses are being shaped in a world that is increasingly dominated by technological advancements. Your final essay task is to:

1. Research the relationship between the internet/social media/technology and empathy.

2. Determine whether or not you think our rapidly developing relationship to technology is affecting our empathy, individually, societally, even globally.

3. Stake out your position on the topic AFTER you have conducted research (reading positions on both sides of the issue).

4. Defend your position by including synthesis between various credible sources.

5. Strengthen your essay by including a refutation of relevant counterarguments.

Minimum Requirements:

• 6-8 full pages (that means 5 and ½ is not acceptable, nor is 8 and ½ - use an appropriate scope

• MLA citing and format. (Again, look this up if you do not know it). • You must find 4 credible sources of your own at minimum. (You may use

my sources in addition to your own, but they are not required). • Works Cited Page formatted as required for MLA eighth edition. • You paper must take a clear position on the relationship between

technology/internet/social media and empathy. A failure to meet the minimum requirements on your final essay in the course can result in a zero on the essay, as determined by the professor, dependent upon the severity of the issue(s).