Hans Schnitzler: Empathy in times of digitisation

Recent figures from the Public Prosecutor’s Office show that the number of legal cases for sedition, threats and public assaults has risen sharply in the past year. Obviously, this increase is related to the sharpening of antagonisms during the coronas crisis. What has received less attention is that this coarsening of society cannot be viewed separately from an important side effect of our online existence, namely: the creation of an almost unbridgeable empathy gap.

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About the author: Hans Schnitzler is philosopher, author, columnist and speaker. He is the author of ‘Het digitale proletariaat’ (2015) & ‘Kleine filosofie van de digitale onthouding’ (2017) at De Bezige Bij, columnist for DCSP, Follow the Money, former columnist at de Volkskrant. His essays and columns are published in NRC, NRCNext, Trouw and more.