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Interactive Activities · Activity 15 of 18
Empathy and Textual Barriers in Digital Communication
Explore how empathy is affected by digital communication — text messages, tone, and the barriers that screens create.
Key takeaways
- The activity, “Empathy is on screen too”, teaches students aged 13–16 to use empathy in text messages and online.
- In digital communication, cues like body language, tone of voice and facial expressions are missing, which leads to misunderstandings.
- The scenario: you text a friend “Why did you do it like that?” out of curiosity, but the friend thinks you wrote it in anger.
- The lesson is the difference between intent and perception.
- More empathic wording: “I was curious why you did that” or “I am asking to understand.”
What is the aim of this activity?
Students learn to use empathy in digital communication and to manage the misunderstandings that happen in text messages. The activity builds their digital communication skills, lets them practise empathy in a virtual environment and reduces conflicts.
Why do text messages cause misunderstandings?
When messaging friends, connecting on social media or taking part in an online discussion, cues like body language, tone of voice and facial expressions are missing. The words we write can be perceived very differently by the other person from what we intended.
How does the activity run in class?
The teacher presents one scenario card: you text a friend, “Why did you do it like that?” You were just curious, but the other person thinks you wrote it out of anger and gets upset. This is where the difference between intent and perception becomes apparent. Students discuss how the message could have been written more empathically, for example “I was curious why you did that” or “I am asking to understand.” The conclusion: when you consider how the other person will perceive a sentence, you prevent misunderstandings and build more respectful relationships.
Video transcript
Generated automatically from the video's audio or subtitles; it may contain small errors.
Empathy and Textual Barriers in Digital Communication. Our title is Empathy is on Screen Too. We have one scenario card. It's about misunderstandings with a message to a friend. Let me give you some brief explanation. Students learn to use empathy in digital communication and manage misunderstandings that occur when they text messages.
This activity increases students' digital communication skill and enables them to practice empathy in a virtual environment and reduces conflicts and strengthens social skills. When messaging with friends, connecting on social media, or participating in an online discussion, cues like body languages, the tone of voice, and facial expressions are missing. This can cause or lead to conflicts and misunderstandings.
Okay, hey kids, today we will talk about a very important topic. Empathy in digital communication. We write texts and we share posts on social media. We chat in online groups, but have you ever noticed, sometimes the words we write can be perceived very differently by the other person than we intended. Okay, we have a scenario card it's about misunderstanding with a message to a friend. This is the card for this situation. Let's say that you text a friend and you asked, why did you do it like that? You were just curious, but the other person thinks you wrote it out of anger and gets upset. This is where the difference between intent and perception becomes apparent. What do you think could have been done in the situation? Could it have been written more empathically? For example, we could have used phrases like: I was curious why you did that, or, I am asking to understand. If we summarize: a sentence you write in the digital world evokes an emotion in the other person. When you consider how the other person will perceive it, you prevent misunderstanding.
And build stronger and more respectful relationships. Empathy is invaluable not only in face to face conversation but also on screen.
18 videos
Differentiating Cognitive and Emotional Empathy
Ages 8–12
Discriminate Between Cognitive and Affective Empathy (Ages 13–16)
Ages 13–16
Foster Empathy: What Would You Do If…? (Ages 8–12)
Ages 8–12
Developing Empathy and Creating Scenarios
Ages 13–16
Moral Dilemmas and the Importance of Emotions
Ages 8–12
Moral Dilemmas and the Importance of Emotions (Ages 13–16)
Ages 13–16
Coping Strategies for Intense Emotions (Ages 8–12)
Ages 8–12
Strategies for Coping with Intense Emotions
Ages 13–16
Handling Conflict Constructively (Ages 8–12)
Ages 8–12
Handling Conflict Constructively
Ages 13–16
Language as an Empathetic Tool: Empathy in Digital Communication (Ages 8–12)
Ages 8–12
Developing Active Listening Skills
Ages 13–16
How Stereotypes Affect Empathy
Ages 8–12
How Stereotypes Affect Empathy (Ages 13–16)
Ages 13–16
Empathy and Textual Barriers in Digital Communication
Ages 13–16
Communicating Negative Feedback Correctly
Ages 8–12
How to Communicate Negative Feedback Properly (Ages 13–16)
Ages 13–16
Understanding How Others Feel
Ages 8–12