Empathy: The Online Human Connection Part 1

As an online community hosted by Habbo Hotel, The Habbo Defence Agency (HDA) is attended by hundreds of people from multiple continents, countries, and timezones. As it is online, HDA the status quo is to not talk about the lives behind the screen but instead the reports, tasks, and pays. This has easily allowed the best of us to forget to connect on a personal level, even though we are strangers. In this article, you will read the stories of the tough and strong willed that are grappled with mental illness, the hopefulness of the ones that have their entire lives ahead of them, and the ones that have found love online. This story is about empathy and the need to find ways to better communicate and connect with one another, this is, The Online Human Connection.

Empathy regards understanding. Understanding what another person might go through without feeling their actual emotions. The 4 minute video below paints a clear picture on how to empathize with others. Reader be warned, it is a tear jerker.

Read the testimonials of the unnamed below, any personal identifying information has been redacted to ensure anonymity was preserved. If anyone did waive anonymity, their name and rank in HDA was included in their testimonial.  

One member describes his or her offline life recently full of uncertainty. It’s currently an anxious time for them as they’re about to return to university to continue their studies. In addition to this, they have taken their online life, offline by engaging in a relationship with someone hundreds of kilometers or thousands of miles away. 

Another member attends to their child while attempting to ensure an active presence within the agency. In addition to the needs of their child, their relationship with his or her significant other has been strenuous due to factors they declined to name. This member also struggles intensely with severe anxiety causing them to decrease their activity within HDA. They’ve experienced paranoia, panic attacks while awake and worse, while asleep, and depression. They are also struggling with poverty and try their best to take care of their young child without much financial assistance from external sources. COVID-19 unfortunately impacted them in a way no one could have predicted, their significant other lost their employment and there are not enough opportunities at this moment to attain gainful employment elsewhere.

This member describes their current real life experiences as excitement for the future, they are about to graduate high school and are completing their final few weeks with final exams. This person is struggling with the uncertainty of what lies ahead for them, however they have recently initiated the beginnings of a new relationship in real life and that has been exciting for them. They feel HDA is a great place to find true friendships and have been able to communicate with other members on a deep and personal level, however most of the time these conversations regard online habituals and light personals such as work and school. They do tend to hide their emotions to not upset anyone in HDA due to their religious beliefs, their goal is to ensure their demeanor is kind and true, this includes ensuring they are not the cause of any issues.

I hope you’ve found this article inspiring. As I was writing it, I couldn’t help but find myself taken by the words of those I have spent my time with in HDA.

This is part one of a three part series. Many thanks to the members of HDA in participating and you can expect part two next week.

Blog Written By: tjw162 / Tom