Mark Zuckerberg often says he created Facebook as a way to connect people and foster relationships. Rarely does he mention his predecessor website, FaceMash, which let users vote on the attractiveness of female Harvard classmates.

FaceMash made some of his peers feel violated, and that’s how a lot of people feel about Facebook today. Zuckerberg’s site left the personal data of millions of users vulnerable to outside political organizations, while allowing extremist groups to use the site to crack down on human rights and incite violence. Meanwhile, political memes and links on the platform are tearing friends and families apart.

Though he denies selling users’ data or encouraging misinformation, Zuckerberg’s approach to running Facebook has demonstrated a failure of empathy. And while many in Silicon Valley are urging him and others in positions like his to do better, it’s too late. They have simply lost our trust.

Now it’s up to a new generation of tech founders and developers to avoid the mistakes of their predecessors, and show us what it really means to be responsible creators and users of tech.

Research shows the stakes are high. One 2015 survey of more than 750 young people suggests that using social technology for more than two hours a day is associated with poorer mental health, higher levels of psychological stress, and more suicidal ideation. A 2017 study found that Facebook appeared to have a particularly negative effect on the self-reported sense of mental health. Young people who spend a lot of time on social media also feel distress from comparing their inner lives to the posts their friends make, and experience “FOMO” (fear of missing out) and a lack of self-esteem, all during a time when a sense of self-worth is still developing.

Young people interested in science, technology, engineering and math (otherwise known as STEM) are likely to be the ones to create the tech tools we will all use in the near future. To prepare them for this task, we need to add another “E” to STEM, for empathy.

While empathy is thought of as a “soft” skill, it can also have a positive effect on “hard” skills like math and science. One 2018 survey found that adults who scored higher on an empathy scale also scored much higher in conflict resolution and resilience.

And some classrooms are already melding STEM and social skills with the future in mind.

At the Facing History School in Hell’s Kitchen, one English class recently participated in a global online game called Face the Future, based in a world where devices allow people to transmit actual feelings — not descriptions of feelings — to one another.

The game led to a complex discussion about connection, relationships and technological impact. And while it all seemed like science fiction to some adults, the students understood that the transmission of feelings through technology might not be far off.

At Girls Academic Leadership Academy in Los Angeles, the first all-girl STEM academy in California, students produce their own virtual reality experiences. In addition to learning to code, they create content from the perspective of those facing social issues such as mental illness and homelessness.

“These girls are 12,” instructor Robyn Janz told me in an interview. “Imagine what the world will look like ten years from now when they enter the workforce in their chosen field. One of them told me she wants to become a doctor, and she’s now planning on using VR to create experiences that can help her treat people.”

STEM education is getting more advanced, more diverse, and in some schools more focused on creating products aimed at social good. If we are to avoid the disasters perpetuated by Facebook and other social media sites, nothing could be more essential.

Kaitlin Ugolik Phillips is the author of “The Future of Feeling: Building Empathy in a Tech-Obsessed World” (Little A), out now.