When I hear the word “death” my stomach tends to drop, and I can feel a sense of darkness and sadness at just the thought of the word death. Death is difficult because it is something that has now been brought onto social media platforms.
Death and Social Media
Death and social media are starting to morph together in more ways than just one. Social media is a playground for any type of user, good users and bad. This feels morbid to even discuss this but social media has brought about new mental health issues as well as new ways to announce the death of someone. In my opinion, social media can bring about negative feelings towards oneself or others. Social media allows for a lot of comparison between how you and your lifestyle are and those of others. We are constantly seeing people on social media, like influencers, living lavish lives and traveling all over the world. Social media also gives people a way to do and say things they normally would not do. Social media has brought about a new wave of bullying, cyberbullying. Cyberbullying has actually caused people to commit suicide. In the article “Bullying, cyberbullying, and Suicide it says “the new non-formal form of peer aggression is cyberbullying, this is also related to suicidal ideation among young adults”.
Source:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13811118.2010.494133
Entertainment, Metro. “Remembering This One Today and Always #AmyWinehouse #RIP Pic.twitter.com/yZii4Wvboy.” Twitter, Twitter, 23 July 2019, twitter.com/Metro_Ents/status/1153628097176133632.
The next issue regarding death and social media is the ability to take away from the sincerity of the death by posting it on social media. I used this picture of Amy Winehouse tweeted by a fan, remembering her even though they had never met her. Those who comment on posts made by those who have lost a loved one are not actually assisting in their grieving process. It is incredibly easy to type “I am sorry for your loss” it is harder on the other hand though to mean it and to do something about it off-screen. On July, 22 of this past week my Grandmother actually passed away. I could have gone onto Facebook or my Instagram and posted pictures of her and I but I felt like what is the point. None of my family would see the pictures, or be able to communicate with me about it. I felt as if I would almost be asking for attention, it did not feel genuine or right to post about her passing to a ton of people who did not know her. I did not want a ton of people who I myself did not consider close friends of mine or even acquaintances of mine to be involved or invited to comment or talk about my families loss. I feel like people then try to make themselves look better or do something nice that they normally would not do because it is so simple to make a nice comment or remark behind a screen just like it is easy to make a horrible or mean comment behind the screen. I felt and still feel crushed by losing my Grandma Jan. My family and I are still waiting to hear all of the details as she was older and had a cold, we are not sure if she passed from a stroke or a heart attack. Without all of the details, I felt as if I would not be sharing accurate information if I advertised her death without any details. She deserves to be remembered for her life and not just her death, because of this I knew it was my duty to keep her death to myself, my family and if needed find support from friends and my school.
Digital immortality and death also enables you to see how you can protect your digital identity and death policies of different websites and or companies. For example, for a site like Facebook it would depend on who would be the first to report your death to them. In 2015, Facebook announced in a press release that users would be able to name a “legacy” someone who would take over their account after they die. This “legacy contact” or the person responsible for your account will have the ability to memorialize your account and download all of the data for your account.
https://www.facebook.com/help/1506822589577997
In conclusion death is all around even on the internet. We can not escape the concept of death or the dangers of death even if we feel as if we are safe and sound in our homes. We can experience death almost anytime we go online and see someone else’s post or anytime we go onto the news. Social Media has sensitized us as a society to death.
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