How Screens Reduce Our Ability to See Human Pain |
Modern society often prioritizes digital noise over genuine voices. People respond instantly to messages, alerts, and videos, yet often fail to recognize distress when it appears a few steps away. This shift carries profound implications for the psychology of pain, crime, and reparation, because communities cannot prevent harm when individuals no longer see one another.
Forensic psychology examines these changes not as isolated habits, but as emotional patterns that weaken empathy and increase the tolerance for violence. This broader concern became painfully clear to me that afternoon.
One afternoon, as I walked toward my restorative justice program, a woman collapsed on the sidewalk only a short distance ahead of me. Her body trembled, her breathing grew rapid, and she reached for support that never arrived. Several people turned toward the sound of her fall, yet no one stepped forward. Phones lifted in unison as individuals prepared to record rather than respond. Their attention drifted toward digital reactions instead of human responsibility.
I ran toward her and knelt beside her while others kept their distance. I asked for her name, and she whispered “María” with fear and humiliation in her voice. I held her arm steady, called 911, and reassured her that help was on the way.
As I supported her, I felt the unsettling contrast between her vulnerability and the crowd’s emotional distance. María needed presence, yet the world offered observation. Witnessing María on the ground exposed more than a moment of neglect. It revealed how deeply distraction has shaped our emotional reflexes as a society.
Unseen pain becomes neglected........