We have an empathy problem in our country. The word empathy, while derived from the Greek word similar to sympathy, is actually a word that was not coined until the 20th century. It was coined by a British-born psychologist who was looking to translate the German word Einfühlung, which means “feeling into”. In English, we take the word empathy to be defined as “sharing the emotional experience” or “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another”. Since so much of human existence depended upon fighting for survival, it is not surprising that empathy is a relatively new concept in our human interaction.
In a world full of personalized algorithms, heightened polarization, and endless customization at our fingertips, we have inadvertently created a worldview tailored to us but not always grounded in reality. Studies have shown that this has led to a decrease in empathy amongst humans. In fact, a study conducted at the University of Michigan published in 2010 found a 40% decline in empathy among college students over a thirty-year period. It’s not that Americans in generations have more natural empathy because empathy is largely learned. In my opinion, in addition to the technological challenges to empathy, we have another contributing factor. My hot take is that we aren’t reading or participating in the arts enough, and it’s contributing to the empathy problem in our country.
In the digital age of scrolling and endless options for our choosing, Americans have largely lost the art of reading and enjoying the arts. Beyond the enjoyment one gets from getting lost in a good book or from live theater, Americans are missing out on something more, and it’s contributing to the empathy problem in our country. Stories, whether on stage or brought to life on the page, allow us to gain an understanding of others’ lives from the stories they tell. They provide a window into the variety of lived experiences humans have faced over millennia.
We can probably all remember that childhood chapter book that has stayed with us. The stories that helped us gain a better understanding of the world around us. For me, it was Number the Stars, To Kill a Mockingbird, and a Wrinkle in Time. These books allowed me to develop both an understanding of the broader world around me and to gain empathy. The same holds true with the stage. Whether it’s watching a Broadway show or the local theater group (we have theater kids, so we see a lot of community theater), I find the same to be true. No matter the story, I have never left a show feeling hardened to the world around me. In fact, I believe that reading and attending shows helps deepen my empathy for the world around me.
We cannot live the life of another, but books and theater help us understand the lived experiences of those different from us, even if they are fictional. A 2025 study found that almost half of all Americans didn’t read a single book over a one-year period. While I could not find hard statistics on how many people attend a theater production each year, the empathic benefits of attending a live performance are well-documented. As moms, I believe one of the best things we can do for our children (and world) is to help them learn empathy. I truly believe that prioritizing reading and theater with our children will help us to solve the empathy problem in our country.
