Features of Cognitive and Affective Empathy among Young People in Digital Immersion Contexts

This article examines features of cognitive and affective empathy components – specifically decentration, emotional contagion, empathic concern, and personal distress – among students with varying degrees of digi-tal immersion. The aim of the study is to investigate the influence of digital environment on empathy expres-sion. Empirical findings revealed that the majority of young adults are actively engaged in the digital environ-ment (93 % of the total sample of 261 individuals). Using the contrast groups method, significant differences were identified solely in the empathy component of emotional contagion (in both offline and online interac-tions). Regression analysis indicated that digital immersion does not exhibit a linear relationship with empathy manifestations in either direct or mediated interaction contexts. Correlation analysis revealed significant asso-ciations between components of cognitive and affective empathy in both interaction modalities. This supports a preliminary conclusion that contemporary young adults, leveraging flexibility in choosing communication chan-nels, effectively comprehend interlocutors’ emotional states and demonstrate empathic capacity even when nonverbal cues are limited in online interactions.