Social Media in the Funeral Industry: On the Digitization of Grief

Nansen, Bjørn; Kohn, Tamara; Arnold, Michael; Ryn, Luke van; Gibbs, Martin

doi:10.1080/08838151.2016.1273925

Cited by 28 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…More generally, the use of online cemeteries, virtual gravesites 23 or memorialised social media pages such as those on Facebook were collectively gaining popularity with those who already use social media in their day-to-day lives, 24 enabling them to maintain the presence of the deceased and facilitate an ongoing conversation with them in which others can also participate. 25 Memorialisation practices are socially mediated by culture, religion and geographic contexts, but the fundamental ethos of 'returning to nature' seems to have survived secularisation.…”

Section: Memorialisation Practices Pre-covid-19mentioning

confidence: 99%

Memorialisation during COVID-19: implications for the bereaved, service providers and policy makers

2020

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Background: The aim of this rapid perspective review is to capture key changes to memorialisation practices resulting from social distancing rules implemented due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Method: As published peer-reviewed research pertaining to memorialisation practices during the COVID-19 pandemic is lacking, this rapid review includes academic literature from the pre-COVID-19 period and international media reports during the pandemic. Findings: Changes to memorialisation practices were under way before COVID-19, as consumer preferences shifted towards secularisation and personalisation of ritual and ceremony. However, several key changes to memorialisation practices connected with body preparation, funerals, cremation, burials and rituals have taken place as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Discussion: Although boundaries between public and private memorialisation practices were already blurred, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this process. Without access to public memorialisation, practices are increasingly private in nature. A number of implications are considered for the bereaved, service providers and policy makers. Conclusion: Forms of memorialisation and bereavement support emerging during the pandemic that blend the public and the private are likely to persist in a post-pandemic world.

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Section: Memorialisation Practices Pre-covid-19mentioning

confidence: 99%

Memorialisation during COVID-19: implications for the bereaved, service providers and policy makers

2020

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“…The clumsy deployment of technologies, whether they be robotic or digital, can threaten the reputation for care that is important to funeral professionals (Nansen et al, 2017). In this medical case, Catherine Quintana, the patient’s daughter, told The Guardian (2019) that:If you’re coming to tell us normal news, that’s fine, but if you’re coming to tell us there’s no lung left and we want to put you on a morphine drip until you die, it should be done by a human being and not a machine…”

Section: Carl: Presence Affect and Effort At The Funeralmentioning

confidence: 99%

Robot death care: A study of funerary practice

Gould

Arnold

Kohn

et al. 2021

International Journal of Cultural Studies

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Across the globe, human experiences of death, dying, and grief are now shaped by digital technologies and, increasingly, by robotic technologies. This article explores how practices of care for the dead are transformed by the participation of non-human, mechanised agents. We ask what makes a particular robot engagement with death a breach or an affirmation of care for the dead by examining recent entanglements between humans, death, and robotics. In particular, we consider telepresence robots for remote attendance of funerals; semi-humanoid robots officiating in a religious capacity at memorial services; and the conduct of memorial services by robots, for robots. Using the activities of robots to ground our discussion, this article speaks to broader cultural anxieties emerging in an era of high-tech life and high-tech death, which involve tensions between human affect and technological effect, machinic work and artisanal work, humans and non-humans, and subjects and objects.

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“…With the widespread popularity of social media networks, mourners utilize the new media to express their grief. Social media technologies have changed traditional norms on mourning and emotional expression (Nansen et al, 2017; Walter, 2015). Furthermore, digital social media constitute new social platforms where mourning is encountered and negotiated (Wagner, 2018).…”

Section: Digital Mourningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Digital mourning on Facebook: the case of Filipino migrant worker live-in caregivers in Israel

Babis

2020

Media, Culture & Society

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The practice of mourning on social media, known as digital mourning, has become a worldwide phenomenon. While scholarly attention focuses on manifestations of online grief, there is a dearth of research regarding this process among immigrants. Based on a digital ethnography on Facebook on the Filipino community in Israel, this study inquires how migrant workers construct their mourning on digital networks. Focusing on grief upon death in the host country, two different practices of digital mourning were found. When Filipino live-in caregivers announce the loss of their elderly employers, their personal pain is shared on their own Facebook wall, receiving personal condolence comments. However, when a fellow Filipino migrant worker passes away, the pain is shared in closed community groups on Facebook, which are followed by thousands of condolence comments. This practice creates a communal feeling that can be termed Communal Digital Grief, and differs from the Personal Digital Grief experienced by migrants as a result of the loss of their employer. This study sheds light on two different practices of digital mourning. One appears on the personal Facebook walls of the bereaved and has therapeutic impact, while the other appears on closed Facebook groups and contributes to community building.

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Social Media in the Funeral Industry: On the Digitization of Grief

Cited by 28 publications

References 19 publications

Memorialisation during COVID-19: implications for the bereaved, service providers and policy makers

Memorialisation during COVID-19: implications for the bereaved, service providers and policy makers

Robot death care: A study of funerary practice

Digital mourning on Facebook: the case of Filipino migrant worker live-in caregivers in Israel

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