But now they are too engrossed in their own lives to care, claims new research.
According to psychologists, undergraduates are fast losing the ability to empathise with other people.
Researchers reviewing surveys of empathy found that they have lost almost 40 per cent of the ability since the 1980s.
The study, presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science, analysed a number of surveys involving almost 14,000 college students over the last 30 years.
"We found the biggest drop in empathy after the year 2000," said Sara Konrath, a researcher at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research.
"College kids today are about 40 per cent lower in empathy than their counterparts of 20 or 30 years ago, as measured by standard tests of this personality trait."
Ms Konrath analysed the findings of 72 different studies of American college students conducted between 1979 and 2009, with fellow graduate student Edward O'Brien and undergraduate student Courtney Hsing.
Compared to college students of the late 1970s, the study found, college students today are less likely to agree with statements such as "I sometimes try to understand my friends better by imagining how things look from their perspective" and "I often have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me."
Ms Konrath said that many people refer to the effect as the "Generation Me" which is one of the most self-centered, narcissistic, competitive, confident and individualistic in recent history.
"It's not surprising that this growing emphasis on the self is accompanied by a corresponding devaluation of others," Mr O'Brien said.
The researchers felt that the change in society could be to do with violence in the media and modern technology such as the internet reducing face o face personal interaction.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/7779290/Generation-me-students-have-less-empathy-than-20-years-ago.html