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The Empathy Crisis - NaPodPoMo 2025 #20 · Randy Unscripted

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  Randy Black: Randy Black.
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  Randy Black. Randy Black. Randy Black. Randy Black. Randy Black. Black. Randy Black. He's a troublemaker. Welcome back to Randy Unscripted. I'm your host, Randy Black, and thank you for joining me for day 20 of napod promo twenty twenty five,
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  national podcast post month. The goal is 30 episodes
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  in thirty days,
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  and we're in the home stretch on this month long challenge.
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  And today,
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  I've pulled out a topic that I've thought about for a while so much so that I wrote about it on my website not that long ago.
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  And, honestly, the response I got when I shared it out with people on social media,
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  I found that
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  I wasn't alone in feeling the way I did based on the blog. So today,
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  we're gonna talk
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  about empathy.
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  Not the buzzword,
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  not the feel good sentiment,
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  but the real lived out, roll up your sleeves kind of empathy that our country desperately needs right now.
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  If you scroll through the news, if you
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  take the time and open social media,
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  walk through a school, or sit down in a community meeting, you can feel it.
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  Empathy feels like it's slipping away.
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  We are quicker to react,
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  slower to listen,
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  and we're more isolated than ever despite being hyperconnected
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  digitally.
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  So I wanna spend this episode exploring three things.
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  The first is what empathy really is and why it feels like we're facing a crisis.
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  Second is how this lack of empathy is showing up in everyday life, in our culture, in our classrooms, and in our technology.
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  And third,
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  what we can actually do about it.
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  Real steps
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  right now.
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  So when we talk about empathy,
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  we're talking about something that's deeper than sympathy.
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  Sympathy says, I feel bad for you.
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  Empathy says,
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  I may not have lived your exact situation,
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  but I'm going to sit with you in it. I'm going to try to understand you.
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  In my blog post,
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  I referenced a concern that keeps coming up in research circles,
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  and that's that empathy levels, especially among young adults, have been steadily declining
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  the past couple of decades.
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  College students today show significantly lower emotional understanding
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  and perspective taking than students from the nineteen eighties and the nineteen nineties.
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  That's not an opinion.
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  That's actual statistical data.
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  But you don't need to need to study there to see the trend.
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  You can look around you and see it.
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  People interrupt each other faster.
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  Conversations
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  are more about broadcasting than they are about listening.
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  The moment someone disagrees with us,
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  we label them as the enemy instead of a fellow human being who simply sees the world differently.
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  Scripture from the Bible has a better way to say it. Romans twelve fifteen says, rejoice with them that do rejoice
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  and weep with them that weep.
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  That right there is empathy.
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  It's entering someone else's joy and someone else's sorrow
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  as though it were your own.
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  But in America today,
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  we've created these little silos,
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  political silos, cultural silos, generational silos,
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  And in those silos,
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  empathy
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  atrophies.
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  When we don't regularly interact with people who think differently than we do,
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  we we lose the ability
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  to understand them.
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  And, honestly,
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  that's where the crisis is.
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  Not that we don't care about people,
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  but that we've forgotten
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  how to.
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  Let's talk about this.
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  I would talk about where this is really happening because it's not abstract.
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  You see it in real tangible places today in our society.
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  Let's start in education.
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  I've seen students become more isolated.
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  They may be surrounded by peers every day,
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  but the conversations
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  are shorter,
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  they're shallower,
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  and they're often filtered through screens.
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  Conflict resolution skills aren't being developed the way that they used to be.
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  And when empathy is missing,
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  everything becomes a bigger deal than it actually needs to be.
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  In technology,
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  we've created an environment where speed is valued more than understanding.
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  Social media gives everyone an immediate voice,
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  but it doesn't train anyone
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  to listen.
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  You can type a comment in a second. You can post an opinion without ever seeing the person you're responding to.
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  You don't see their face, their body language,
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  or their hurt.
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  As a technology specialist,
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  I see the beauty
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  and the danger.
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  Tech can connect us in powerful ways,
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  but it can also flatten people into avatars,
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  and empathy needs humans,
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  not profiles.
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  In everyday culture,
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  we have normalized outrage.
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  Outrage is rewarded with likes and shares.
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  Outrage gets visibility.
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  Outrage drives algorithms.
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  But empathy,
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  empathy isn't loud.
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  Empathy
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  isn't click worthy.
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  Empathy takes time.
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  We are losing the slow practice of sitting with someone, asking questions,
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  and not assuming the worst motivations in others.
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  Those skills are disappearing.
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  And the result,
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  we talk
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  past one another.
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  We
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  assume we already know someone's story without ever hearing it.
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  We dehumanize people who disagree with us.
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  And if empathy isn't brought back into the center,
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  that trajectory
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  doesn't get better.
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  It gets worse.
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  But here's the good news.
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  Empathy
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  isn't dead.
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  It's just neglected,
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  and neglected things
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  can be rebuilt.
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  In my blog post,
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  I shared a few practices, and I wanna expand on those now.
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  The first is to listen intentionally,
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  not the waiting for your turn to talk kinda listening,
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  real listening.
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  One of the best empathy builders is to ask a follow-up question before offering your own opinion.
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  Try it this week.
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  Ask someone,
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  tell me more about that.
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  It's amazing what happens.
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  Second thing is that we need to seek out conversations with people who differ from us.
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  Different backgrounds,
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  different experiences,
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  different viewpoints.
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  The more we diversify our conversations,
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  the more naturally empathy begins to grow.
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  Third, we need to use technology to foster connection,
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  not to replace it.
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  Video calls
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  instead of text arguments,
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  voice messages instead of a quick reaction,
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  tools that show faces
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  and let you hear voices help anchor empathy
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  because they rehumanize
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  the person who's on the other end.
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  Our fourth thing is to slow down.
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  Empathy cannot be rushed.
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  It requires a moment of stillness,
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  a moment to consider
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  what might this person be feeling.
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  Where might they be coming from?
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  The last thing is to bear someone's burden.
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  And you know me. I'm a Christian, I'm a pull out some scripture. So let's go with Galatians chapter six verse two where it says,
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  bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.
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  That doesn't always mean solving someone's problem.
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  Sometimes it just means showing up,
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  staying present,
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  and offering your time to them.
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  Empathy is built in small simple acts.
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  One conversation,
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  one moment,
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  one choice at a time.
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  And if enough of us do that,
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  I think we can turn this thing around.
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  As we wrap up episode 20 of our napod promo twenty twenty five series here on Randy unscripted,
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  here's my challenge for you this week.
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  Choose one person in your life and practice intentional empathy with them.
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  Listen more closely.
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  Ask a deeper question.
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  Slow down
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  and be present.
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  Empathy is a skill.
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  It grows with practice.
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  And if we want a stronger, kinder, more understanding America,
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  it starts with each of us choosing to step into someone else's story.
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  If this episode resonated with you, I'd love to hear about it. Share a story with me. Maybe a moment this week when you practiced empathy
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  or showed someone in or someone else showed empathy towards you. Those stories matter.
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  Thank you for taking the time to listen here today on Randy unscripted.
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  I'll be back tomorrow for day 21 of napod promo twenty twenty five, national podcast post month,
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  30 episodes
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  in thirty days.
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  Until then, take care, and take time to understand someone
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  a little better today.
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  I'm Randy, and this has been Randy Unscripted.