I guess what I meant was social skills force you to interact with others which can take the focus off of ourselves. Which I believe helps at least a little with compassion and empathy. I am not sure how social skills could make you less empathetic or compassionate if that is what you meant. Like it or not when we have anxieties, fear and rumination, very often we are self absorbed. I dont mean that its selfish or egocentric just that we are thinking about ourselves and how we feel and its very hard to focus on ourselves if we are interacting with others.