Facebook is changing the way we grieve

Article by: KATIE HUMPHREY , Star Tribune
Updated: February 17, 2013 - 9:53 AM

Pages sometimes evolve into memorials for the dead.

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jesiiiFeb. 17, 13 6:30 AM

yes facebook is right .

poiuytrewqFeb. 17, 13 9:58 AM

Just because someone dies, it doesn't mean they are erased from ever existing. You don't go through your old photo albums and toss out photos of dead relatives and that is kind of what FB is all about anyway.

mnicnickFeb. 17, 1310:12 AM

You neglected to mention that proof of death (a link to an obituary or news article) is required when requesting that Facebook memorialize someone's profile. When my stepmother died very suddenly, we had an immediate private funeral and never wrote an obituary. We did not know her Facebook password in order to disable her profile. Now we see her posting pictures every week due to an automatic setting she had enabled. It would be nice if Facebook would make exceptions to their proof-of-death rule, like looking at the profile and seeing all the posts from mourners--isn't that proof enough--and allow a page to be memorialized without showing them an obituary.

schmackdogFeb. 17, 1311:09 AM

Facebook is the absolute worst thing to happen to society in the last 20 years. How lame can people get? It definitely re-defined the word reality, that's for sure.

lenny7Feb. 17, 1311:32 AM

mnicnick, I'm sorry for your loss. Isn't there a death certificate for your stepmother that you can use as proof? My brother passed away just over a year ago and there are a few of us who still post to his page from time to time. It might be a memory, or a song we knew he liked. It's nice to have it still around.

tdmplaqueFeb. 18, 13 5:46 AM

I have noticed a massive change in the way people grieve and cope with bereavement. The digital media and social media such as facebook have generally been a great addition to the process of passing away. We accumulate masses of images videos and stories, indeed we have a life story in digital form that has no way of being shared and told to others - that is until now. Having lost my father a few years ago I became founder of The Digital Memorial Plaque