Promoting a digital ethics of care: A digital cognitive interruption to facilitate UK adolescents' empathy in online spaces

In debating who takes responsibility for adolescent's online activity, expectations are that a multi-systemic approach is needed. In this paper, the voices of 11-18-year-olds, teachers, and mental health practitioners in focus group conversations were analysed using thematic analysis. Results indicated that young people demonstrated empathy in situ during data collection. However, when reporting on conversations in digital spaces, they complained of a lack of empathy from others, noting that bullying, and trolling were problematic. We propose the novel use of an intentional digital cognitive interruption to support empathic posting. The intention is for this to act as a catalyst for young users to consider their responses before posting by providing a momentary disruption to the fast flow of online interaction. We invite further conversation about supporting adolescents' digital empathy in online spaces. Prior state of knowledgeAdolescents' lives are inseparable from digital technology. This has created a moral concern about their online conduct in relation to responsibility, empathy, kindness, and care (conceptualised as a digital ethics of care within a digital citizenship framework).Novel contributionsBuilding on previous work on digital ethics and morality, we introduce the cognitive interruption as a solution to instant thoughtless posting that lacks empathy. We offer a novel model, called STEP - Stop, Think, Empathise, Privacy.Practical implicationsThe application of STEP is valuable to anyone concerned with encouraging adolescents to be more empathically aware of their digital communication and conduct. This includes, parents, teachers, technology companies, and young people themselves.