This paper addresses and explores the traditions and cultures around death and grieving and how modern technology and social media have impacted these practices for better or worse, and posits questions about the future of these practices and potential future developments.
Breakdown/Highlights:
We live in a digital era where even browsing the web and using the technology in our daily lives leaves behind often actionable data and information that can be utilized and leverage. Furthermore, many of the interfaces we use are designed to encourage users to create 'content' and or create digital assets to be shared and shown on the web.
Our ability to know of and mourn the deceased have increased exponentially since the advent of social media. We can and will come into contact with the digital assets and presence of those who are no longer living.
More of the same sentiments reiterated with a heightened emphasis on the fact that you could potentially make the argument that in our life time, we could produce sufficient amounts of digital assets to re-tell our life's story.
There are an increasing number of startups and companies that aim to help manage the abundance of digital real estate and startups that focus on the distribution and protection of those assets after death.
Some of these available services leverage the affordances of social media to continue to maintain a presence / try and produce an automated continuation of your 'digital avatar/self'.
Web cemeteries and other forms of memorialization via the web/emerging technologies have begun to pop up. This is largely a result of the increased access to death/news about death brought on by the era of the internet.
One popular form of web memorialization has come in the form of Facebook memorial pages. Wright references studies by Church who makes the claim that the affordances of social media sites like Facebook and the Internet by and large offer nicely packaged ways for people to 'commune' or 'communicate' with the deceased. Or rather, at least feel like they are. While not stated explicitly, they seem to allude to the idea that these web memorials offer chances to actively grieve, mourn and get closure.
Many of these archival memorial sites have become 'social spaces for the bereaved', communal spaces for mourning, venting and connecting with others who share the same pain.
It's becoming increasingly obvious how unprepared we are in our design choices, our legislation and our policies to deal with the various issues surrounding privacy and ownership over digital assets belonging to the deceased.
It's projected by some models that between 2030-2040 there will be more deceased profiles that living ones on Facebook. Very few web models factor in the literal mortality of their user base and how best to continue serving their interests.
Many of the social media giants are still struggling with how best to protect the information of the deceased while also allowing families access/control over their assets and narrative. Not to mention keeping these memorial sites alive costs processing power and money, big tech is also in the process of learning how they can profit / maintain profits while keeping the bereaved happy.
From a cultural perspective, studies have shown an emphasize the importance of ritual in order to create meaning in death. The new mourning and grieving practices born from the affordances of social media and technology present a whole new set of traditions and rituals.
Some make the argument that the often strict traditions surrounding death and mourning eclipse the passing of the deceased itself and fail to adequately provide people with closure and understanding regarding death and mourning. In contrast, online memorialization allows a lot more freedom for interactivity and for people to interact with freedom.
Psychologically the argument stands that these mourning community grounds helps people continue feeling the presence of the deceased and can be helpful in their grieving.
Online memorials often become environments that foster active grieving and allow for people's emotions regarding the deceased grow and change over time.
There's a lot of work to be done in the post-mortem digital space. How can we protect our digital assets and remains, what legislation and company policies need to be put in place to create these changes? What are the fiscal costs and ramifications of the emerging digital mourning processes? How are different entities trying to control these factors and profit off of them? After my passing what happens to my belongings will no longer be concern of mine but how can I ensure that they're not a burden for the people that I care about?
