Juliet Scallon

As people have started to prioritize themselves and individualism has grown, many are becoming desensitized to other people’s issues, and empathy has decreased.

Individualism is best defined as “an approach to life that emphasizes the essential right to be oneself and to seek fulfillment of one’s own needs and desires.” Many cultures over the years have been based on individualism, while others are more focused on community and helping others when needed. Americans have always had an individualistic culture; however, in recent years, individualism has grown due to factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of social media. Many see this as a good thing because of our ability to take care of ourselves, but there are many downsides. Individualism isn’t inherently a bad thing, but this rise has created a “me” centered society that has killed empathy.

The first factor that contributed to the rise of individualism is the COVID-19 pandemic. When everyone had to stay home for an extended period, they learned to tune out the rest of the world and only focus on their little corner. During a time of crisis, it is a good thing not to get caught up in the tragedies happening in the world because if you think about them too much, it will simply drive you insane. However, even now that the pandemic has slowed down, people have continued this streak of only caring for themselves and their loved ones. On a small scale, the treatment of service workers has gone down the drain, as people expect special treatment. Why shouldn’t you get what you want? If you only care about yourself, you start to think that others should care about you, too. The problem is that those people only care about themselves, and not anyone else.

Another cause of the rise of individualism is the increased use of social media. This seems a bit counterintuitive, as social media is seen as a way to connect us. In a way, it does, but that constant connection has made connections meaningless. We are both connected and isolated, and on social media, you only see what you want. This can lead to ignorance about what is going on around you because you only interact with the things you either agree with or are comfortable facing. This has caused many people to lose empathy because they don’t care about anything that doesn’t directly affect them.

Whenever a video gets posted on social media concerning a serious issue or a traumatic incident, there will undoubtedly be many people in the comments either making insensitive jokes or making light of the situation. This behavior is extremely harmful, but whenever someone says something about it, they are judged for being too sensitive and told that “it’s not that deep.” What these people fail to realize is that passing serious situations off as jokes or not a big deal is actually hurting them more than anyone else in the long run. Yes, there is a small chance that the person affected will see the comment, but the person writing the comment is killing their own empathy.

Individualism has killed empathy as we know it. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of social media, people have grown to only care about themselves. This has created the idea that making jokes about someone’s trauma is okay because “it’s not a big deal.” The problem is that a society without empathy is anarchy. What happens when it’s you that is affected, and no one else cares because we have normalized to joke about the suffering of others?