I empathize and care more about my online friends than anyone I know in real life - including most of my intermediate family. While I could be the exception to the norm, the people with whom I interact seem to be similar. Of course, we could all be exceptions to the norm...
The study you linked does mention other causes which seem more likely than device use:
>As discussed previously, narcissism, which is negatively
correlated with empathy, has been rising in American college
students over a similar time period (Twenge et al.,
2008).
The current college generation are extreme narcissists. To a disgusting degree. Even terrible tragedies (such as the terrorist attacks in France) are met with "how can I make this about me?" attitudes. A brief browse through Twitter shows this isn't an uncommon thing.
I have no data on whether or not narcissism may or may not be correlated with internet/electronic devices. (I haven't bothered to search this statement, so if a study shows up on the first page of Google results - didn't bother looking! :) )
Either way - I look forward to habitually living in a gaming ecosystem rather than the real world.
The study you linked does mention other causes which seem more likely than device use:
>As discussed previously, narcissism, which is negatively correlated with empathy, has been rising in American college students over a similar time period (Twenge et al., 2008).
The current college generation are extreme narcissists. To a disgusting degree. Even terrible tragedies (such as the terrorist attacks in France) are met with "how can I make this about me?" attitudes. A brief browse through Twitter shows this isn't an uncommon thing.
I have no data on whether or not narcissism may or may not be correlated with internet/electronic devices. (I haven't bothered to search this statement, so if a study shows up on the first page of Google results - didn't bother looking! :) )
Either way - I look forward to habitually living in a gaming ecosystem rather than the real world.