Why empathy in children’s media matters —for kids and adults

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May 7

With the ongoing news about defunding PBS, Sesame Street and friends have been thrust into the spotlight. But even in the face of uncertainty, the show continues to put forth messages of empathy, love, and support.

This tradition of caring continues to generate engagement, which has been on the rise since last year, when Elmo asked Twitter (X), “Elmo is just checking in! How is everybody doing?” Twenty thousand people responded, mostly saying some variation of “Bad, Elmo.” 61K retweeted it in order to tell Elmo how bad they’re doing, and 164K liked that he asked. This wave of misery prompted Elmo to tweet a couple days later, “Wow! Elmo is glad he asked! Elmo learned that it is important to ask a friend how they are doing. Elmo will check in again soon, friends! Elmo loves you. #EmotionalWellBeing.” Many other Sesame Street characters chimed in with their messages of emotional support and, a few days later, the official Sesame Street account tweeted an article from Sesame Workshop titled “ELMOtional Wellbeing — Mental Health Support for Big Feelings,” which had advice, activities, webinars, and information all about supporting kids’ and adults’ mental health.

Five months into 2025, and “Elmo needs a hug.” The responses? 70k likes on Instagram.

Why all the fuss?

All this hubbub highlighted that Gen X, millennials, and Gen Z, the people who use Twitter, are not OK and they are, apparently, comfortable falling back on their childhood comforts to get support. In a statement from Aaron Bisman, VP of audience development at Sesame Workshop, Bisman says, “our social media team is cognizant of the relationship that audiences have developed with the characters over the last 54 years. Elmo is the lovable furry monster audiences have a deep connection with and is a good friend asking you ‘how are you doing?’” Sesame and researchers have been successfully using the power of Elmo to teach small children skills since his inception, and his effect has been studied significantly. Yet, in this case, it’s the adults who are in their feelings.

Kaitlin Ugolik Phillips, author of The Future of Feeling: Building Empathy in a Tech-Obsessed World and editor of Gifted-Ish: Women and Non-binary Writers on Intelligence, Identity and Education says of the Elmo tweetstorm, “a lot of people are just desperate for connection. A lot of adults seem to also be learning to express their negative feelings in healthy-ish ways for the first time” likely because of the pandemic. She says, “A friendly, nostalgic character who might have made them feel safe as a kid asking them how they're doing may have given some folks ‘permission’ to open up.” When someone sees that they weren’t the only one to tell Elmo their woes, “You feel less alone when you realize so many people are responding in a similar way, and if you have the emotional bandwidth that might also increase your empathy for those around you,” she says.

In fact, Bisman claims they use their 50+ social media accounts specifically to incite feelings of empathy in their adult viewers, many of whom are caregivers. He says, “Many of our social posts are designed to make audiences smile or laugh, while others promote and share resources for children and their parents, caregivers, and loved ones who make up their circle of care.” But whether or not it was a vast manipulation or not does not lessen the impact one little puppet has on the world.

Why we need empathy in entertainment

Empathy in entertainment is vital and can go a long way toward normalizing caring conversations and interactions. Another children’s media character, Steve Burns from Blue’s Clues, has taken to Reels and TikTok to “co-regulate” with viewers by pretending to listen and breathe with them. These videos garner hundreds of thousands of likes and tens of thousands of comments and shares. People respond to their “characters being there for them.”

Empathy has also been having a comeback in television for adult audiences. Shows like Ted Lasso, Schitt’s Creek, and even the often-stressful The Bear portray people working together toward a shared goal, loving each other, and showing great empathy toward their people. These shows have won awards and have been among people’s favorites for the last few years. They are a departure from the “situational humor” of shows like The Office and 30 Rock where audiences laugh because of the ridiculousness of a character’s behavior and only get heartfelt moments in series finales or very special episodes.

While social media often serves as a place where people “troll” or speak badly toward each other, with Elmo, we have an example of social media doing something good for humanity. While Phillips says, “I'm very cynical about our existing social media platforms, especially Twitter/X,” she says the Elmo example “shows that we have a need to connect in this way, and we're going to keep trying to make it work for us no matter who is in charge or what the platform is like. Hopefully we start to move toward a more person-centered design of these platforms.” Even if we will always have a corporation in charge of our various media platforms, the way social media has adapted means that individual characters have an immense amount of power, which empowers real humans to use the platform how it best serves them.

Although the fate of Sesame Street is currently unclear, the friendly Muppets and their human companions are showing the world that, even in the face of rejection, it’s still good to be kind.

Laura Wheatman Hill lives in Portland, Oregon with her two children and two dogs. Her first career was in teaching English and theatre and she still works with students of all ages. Since she can’t stop writing, Laura is also a playwright and creative writer. In her spare time, she reads, takes the dogs on long walks, and socializes with humans.