Wealth and Social Media Breed Narcissism and Lack of Empathy, Says New Research

9 April 2017

 - It’s been shown time and time again that living in communities with empathetic neighbors improves quality of life. And now a new study has taken it a step further and found levels of empathy in the U.S. vary drastically from state to state.

Researchers have turned their attention to studying empathy over the last decade, largely due to a disturbing trend where compassion for our fellow humans has taken a sharp downward turn, with narcissism on the rise. Social media and financial wealth both appear to play a large part in this move toward selfishness and self-involvement.

Before underestimating the importance of compassionate communities, consider this: empathy has been shown to encourage emotional and physical healing, facilitate communication, build trust and improve every level of business, while discouraging hate crimes, aggression, violence and bullying. Most importantly, it makes us happier, which creates a positive ripple effect out into the world.