How the internet is changing the way we grieve

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JWWhite
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How the internet is changing the way we grieve

Post by JWWhite »

How the internet is changing the way we grieve

People don’t die in the same way that they used to. In the past, a relative, friend, partner would pass away, and in time, all that would be left would be memories and a collection of photographs. These days the dead are now forever present online and digital encounters with someone who has passed away are becoming a common experience.

Each one of us has a digital footprint – the accumulation of our online activity that chronicles a life lived online through blogs, pictures, games, web sites, networks, shared stories and experiences.

When a person dies, their “virtual selves” remain out there for people to see and interact with. These virtual selves exist in the same online spaces that many people use every day. And this is a new and unfamiliar phenomenon that some people might find troubling – previously dead people were not present in this way.

Yet for some, these spaces have become a valuable tool – especially so for the bereaved. An emerging body of research is now looking at the ways the internet, including social media and memorial websites, are enabling new ways of grieving – that transcend traditional notions of “letting go” and “moving on”.
https://theconversation.com/how-the-int ... eve-100134
MY in BS full of BS.
“When people learn no tools of judgment and merely follow their hopes, the seeds of political manipulation are sown.” Stephen Jay Gould
oakdale160
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Re: How the internet is changing the way we grieve

Post by oakdale160 »

Not quite on topic but closely related.
Is it still the custom in Briain that if you choose to send your condolences to the family you MUST do it with a hand-written note.
HHTel
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Re: How the internet is changing the way we grieve

Post by HHTel »

Never has been as far as I know. 'In Sympathy' cards have been around as long as I can remember.
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hhfarang
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Re: How the internet is changing the way we grieve

Post by hhfarang »

Yeah, I knew a guy who died 4 years ago and still gets a slew of "Happy Birthdays" each year on his Facebook account, apparently from "friends" who don't know he's dead.
My brain is like an Internet browser; 12 tabs are open and 5 of them are not responding, there's a GIF playing in an endless loop,... and where is that annoying music coming from?
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