How a technology journalist creates empathy

Technology has permeated almost all aspects of our lives and, with the current advancements, it’ll seep into even more layers of society. Sometimes, tech holds a mirror to us, as humans. Just like us, it can’t thrive in isolation. Similar to us, tech expands and evolves through the sustained work of communities of users and developers.The only way to truly understand how this interdependence is impacting our society is to talk to people about their personal experiences with technology. Few other people do this as consistently and in depth as great journalists do. So I invited the kindest one I know to talk about Cyber Empathy.  Andrada Fiscutean, science and technology writer drawn to stories about “people with very few resources, building things out of thin air” is today’s guest. She has over 13 years of experience and has written for Nature, Wired, Vice, Motherboard, CSO Online, BBC Radio and so many other publications. Her writing offers unique perspectives of how people shape technology while also making outliers’ stories relatable and offering new ways to be in the world. In this episode, you’ll find out how Andrada practices empathy as a journalist covering stories at the intersection of society and technology. You’ll also hear about why it is important to get perspectives from all sides while dealing with tech-related topics and the difference it makes. And we also discuss the role of empathy in promoting mental health within cybersecurity, with a couple of takeaways you can apply no matter your field.In this episode, you will learn:How practicing empathy as a technology journalist looks like (06:23)How Andradada gets people to open up and share their stories (07:36)The importance of gender equity when approaching technology-related issues (13:20)How cybersecurity communities tackle mental health issues (16:49)Resources: Best Practices for Designing Application LogsThe adventures of lab ED011Stretched and stressed(Profile) Meet This Year’s Fellows: Andrada Fiscutean(Book) Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman(Podcast) Hack ChatConnect with Andrada:WebsiteLinkedInTwitterLet’s connect!WebsiteLinkedInTwitter