ProlepsisOpen in the graph →

Contemporary observation

Social media: cyberbullying of 11-15-year-olds has risen, with no measured decline in empathy

New York subway, February 2020: almost every passenger is looking at a phone. An image of our daily life; it says nothing about what each person feels for others.
Illustrative image New York subway, February 2020: almost every passenger is looking at a phone. An image of our daily life; it says nothing about what each person feels for others. — Photo: Billie Grace Ward, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0

possible · Observation ≠ proven fulfilment

2018 → 2026-03 · Pays de l'OCDE, Europe et Amérique du Nord

See the full entry: sources, objections, answers

What is reported

According to the OECD (May 2025), based on the WHO’s HBSC survey, one child in six aged 11 to 15 said they had been bullied online in 2021-2022; this cyberbullying rose by more than 25% on average between 2017-2018 and 2021-2022, in almost all OECD countries. WHO Europe (March 2024) gave 15% of boys and 16% of girls, against 12% and 13% in 2018, with bullying at school remaining stable. The World Happiness Report 2026 (March 2026) concludes that heavy users of social media are at risk for their well-being, especially in English-speaking countries and Western Europe. On the other hand, a meta-analysis of 13 studies (10,015 adolescents, Journal of Adolescence, January 2026) finds a weak but positive link between social media use and empathy (r = 0.057), and the empathy of American students, which fell from 1979 to 2009, rose again from 2009 to 2018.

Main objection (in French for now)

The 2026 meta-analysis (McDonald et al.) finds that more use of social media goes with slightly more empathy, not less; its authors conclude that the data lean slightly toward the hypothesis of an enrichment of relationships.

The text (World English Bible)

Because iniquity will be multiplied, the love of many will grow cold.

Matt 24:12

Sources