How Can We Make More Empathetic Technology?

According to Merriam-Webster, empathy is defined as “the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner.”

There are three types of empathy: cognitive, where you take on the viewpoint of another person; emotional, where you are able to feel for the other person; and compassionate, which is a mix of the two. Empathy can be expressed via body language, too. An often-overlooked fourth category of empathy is motor empathy, where one repeatedly mirrors another’s actions.

Empathy is a vital part of our society, and many global organizations tout the importance of empathy when it comes to being an effective leader.

Post-Covid-19’s Lack Of Empathy

The technology world is struggling seriously with empathy when it comes to the end user because of Covid-19. Product design used to involve countless user interviews and days of shadowing. The pandemic has rendered a lot of these practices obsolete.

This lack of empathy extends beyond end users, too. Colleagues are empathizing less with each other due to extended remote work. It’s hard to understand someone’s home situation when working with them remotely, and the expectation for everyone to be constantly available has increased. With the work-from-home privilege more common than ever, it’s also more common for the 5 p.m. end to the work day to be pushed later and later.

Covid-19 is also putting a strain on manager-subordinate relationships. It’s harder for some managers to appreciate the struggles parents have when juggling remote work and child care.

In industries like healthcare and teaching, roles where empathy is of utmost importance, it’s harder to coach employees when it comes to empathy for those they work with — and it’s harder to communicate that empathy remotely.

Creating Empathetic TechnologyTo combat this, many organizations are investing in ways to make technology more empathetic. Verywell Mind compared online therapy providers based on their empathetic approaches. And products like Empathy.com aim to offer companionship during these trying times of great loss.

Organizations hoping to develop more empathetic technology should take inspiration from the Russian doll model, which asserts that in order to learn empathy, an organism must experience the emotion they are trying to empathize with, rather than just imitate it. In addition, Stanford Medicine Center asserts that empathy should be based on peace, green-living and health. These theories can be applied to various aspects of technology design, from ideation to implementation.

For instance, in product design, you must consider certain ethical aspects of your design, like whether or not your gamification features are too addictive or sticky. When looking at product design from a green perspective, you need to consider whether or not your product requires too much energy for the sake of security. Empathy mapping is a widely used technique in the modern design thinking world. It’s primarily about visualizing user attitudes and behaviors in an effort to better empathize with end product/service users.

In his article entitled “A Personal Journey Through User Experience,” Dr. Marc Hassenzahl describes the importance of finding a distinction between “sober and elegant ‘tools’ and gimmicky ‘toys’— the latter supposedly bloated with useless functionality and ornament.” In doing so, user experience designers can check whether or not the end user can achieve their objectives without friction.

The Future Of Empathy In Tech

I was recently asked which business leader, past or present, I would want to invite to dinner. My answer was Steve Jobs, who I believe was a pioneer in empathetic technology and optimized user experience. During dinner, I would ask him how we can make new iterations of the iPhone even more empathetic.Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?