Louis C. K. Says Kids Who Use Cell Phones Don't Build Empathy

On empathy:

"I think these things are toxic, especially for kids. ... It's bad. They don't look at people when they talk to them and they don't build empathy. You know, kids are mean, and it's 'cause they're trying it out. They look at a kid and they go, 'you're fat,' and then they see the kid's face scrunch up and they go, 'oh, that doesn't feel good to make a person do that.' But they got to start with doing the mean thing. But when they write 'you're fat,' then they just go, 'mmm, that was fun, I like that."

On being with yourself:

"You need to build an ability to just be yourself and not be doing something. That's what the phones are taking away, is the ability to just sit there. Like this. That's being a person. Right? ... You gotta check [makes texting gesture]. You know, underneath everything in your life, there's that thing. That empty — forever empty. You know what I'm talking about? ... That knowledge that it's all for nothing and that you're alone. It's down there. And sometimes when things clear away, you're not watching anything, you're in your car, and you start going, ooohhhh, nooo, here it comes, that I am alone. Like it starts to visit on you, You know, just this sadness. Life is tremendously sad. Just by being in it. So you're driving, and you go ohohoh [gestures to grab a phone], that's why we text and drive. ... But people are willing to risk taking a life and ruining their own, 'cause they don't want to be alone for a second. Because it's so hard."

Then he tells a story about being in his car when a Bruce Springsteen song comes on, and he resists picking up his phone "to write hi to like 50 people," and he lets his sadness hit him like a truck, and... He tells it better.

And...

"Because we don't want that first bit of sad, we push it away with that little phone [thing]. ... You never feel completely sad, or completely happy. You just feel kinda satisfied with your products. And then you die."

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