After reading this NPR article, I have been thinking about how digital technologies are changing the way we mourn and and relate to the realities of death.
A number of comments on the NPR story were pretty rich and speak from this new territory; the following comment (from Craig Waterman aka quakerboy) was really poignant:
My wife passed away two months ago. She was young and had kept many of her friends informed about her illness through “health updates,” using the “notes” feature on Facebook. As her illness became critical, and new updates each several hours, hundreds of people told me how they were checking Facebook. It is weird to realize that after she died I called my wife’s parents, her sister and then posted a message on Facebook. Very quickly everyone who knew her were informed because of the great diversity of who were here Facebook Friends. It made coordinating the service much easier and a centralized source for information in a very diverse group of people.
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I would not be surprised if somebody out there is working on a book manuscript or setting up an academic study related to mourning/dying in the digital age.
Eventually, maybe we’ll see the Kübler-Ross model get revised for the 21st century.
Another interesting question to be answered in time is how to curate the digital artifacts of the deceased…
What will become of the terabytes of digital photographs, video, and other information of our relatives and friends after they pass on?
It will be interesting to see what happens when many of these digital artifacts already have migrated to the cloud where they could exist in perpetuity.
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When it comes to the ashes of loved ones, you treat them w/ reverence, put them on your mantle, possibly include them in ceremonies to honor the dead.
It would seem that the digital ashes of our loved ones – at least for a time – may prove more challenging to commemorate and honor.
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