How Should Social Media Respond, Take In, and Move on from Death?

There are many opinions on what to do or not to do when the topics of death and social media intertwine. These opinions can differ because it tends to be such a situational topic. We all react or grieve differently but, I think there are some limitations or some things we should appropriate when it comes to social media. Today I'd like to run over different topics and situations and how I believe they could be handled better situation by situation.

The Death of a Celebrity, Star, or Athlete

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Kobe_Bryant_Disney_Parade.jpg

   It's easy to recollect on the topic of this because of our recent loss of Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and her teammates and their parents as well. We saw a massive reaction to the tragic accident Kobe was involved in, personally I was in total shock for an hour or so. First I'd like to state the problems with how it was released. TMZ put this information out as soon as they got it, allegedly before Vanessa (Kobe's wife) even got a call from authorities. After this came the rushed releases I saw reports that Vanessa was on the helicopter and also reports that his entire family was aboard. Imagine close friends or family members thinking that they had all passed before hearing the real factual reports. This is honestly just a problem we will continue to have with crazy incidents like this, you can't control social media or the internet. Of course we had all sorts of sports networks, athletes, and celebrities showing their condolences and appreciation for Kobe and Gigi. Which is as things are expected and should be. I did see some posts from friends of mine who had truly expressed their hatred for Kobe and say he "was never as good as Micheal or Lebron" start posting things about how much they admired Kobe and then called him the 'G.O.A.T.' Of course, me being the person who argued against them for years, was a little irritated by this. Were they really posting to send their condolences and appreciation or were they doing their best to get some likes?

Another controversial topic when someone like this dies, do we bring up any flawed actions or criminal activity instead of giving them constant praise? In 2003 Kobe Bryant was accused of sexually assaulting a young woman this case was eventually settled out of court with a civil law suit. Any possible sexual assault is nothing to be taken lightly, but do we bring it up? Out of respect to his family and his still young daughters I don't believe this should be blasted on the media. I don't believe those young women should have to grow up thinking their father was a monster because of this story. Personally, whether their was sexual assault or not I don't believe it should be brought up in front of his daughters. Another part of me says whether you change or not, things like this being brought back to attention, even after death, is part of the consequences.

Still Born Babies

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Tiny_foot.jpg

I see the documentation of still-born children as a very respectful and brave thing for parents and family members to act upon. The initial pictures are of great use and the sharing of them is completely understanding, I think the annual reminiscing is a healthy thing to acknowledge as well. I have seen parents continue to post pictures of other children that growth represents the size their child would've been. This included long descriptive details of what they would have been up to (4 week check up, crawling, starting to talk, ect.) I don't think anything is wrong with this but, if I was in the same situation it wouldn't help me move on. I completely understand the recollection of what things could've been, but is it healthy for the parents emotionally to hold onto this constant mourning? Is it healthy to put the depressive vibes in your head for months or even years? It seems insensitive to say but at some point you have to work on moving on or you'll never get out of the emotional state you're in.

How Do We Appropriately Post Following a Death?
Out of respect we typically want to make a post showing our condolences but when do we stop those posts of pictures we found looking back the days following? Does a family member use the deceased account and make occasional posts in first person? I have seen family members use the accounts of the deceased this way and I'm not very sure how to feel about it. Not to be insensitive about it but it seems like a bit much too me, which I've been lucky enough to not lose anyone in my immediate family so I guess I'm not able to relate. I do feel as if it's a great way to look back on someone's life to make occasional post when a Facebook memory or holiday comes around. I think on holidays or birthdays a very-well written post would mean much more than frequent posts every week for months. We are mixing serious emotions with social media here so it's an odd thing to balance or explain but, as a follower I think I'd be more prone to look past the posts if they came in too frequently. Especially if I felt like they brought me down. A thought through emotional post on the holidays rather than consistent short posts would mean a lot me to me as a follower. The meaning for posting about the person is to gather and celebrate their life through social media, I think the most effective way to do this would be this way.