“Remember me, though I have to say goodbye.”

Everyone dies.

luckas_4u

It is kind of frightening to think you might not be remembered one day. What happens when we pass away, and everyone passes on who knew us? Even if we are remembered and generations pass on that memory of us, will we still mean anything to someone who never met us? Or are we going to fade away, almost like we never existed?  Long live our memories? Okay, maybe they will, or could they just use social media? I think people use social media to cope with loss, there's no correct way to cope when it comes to someone's pain. We are able to re-experience moments of happiness which were once experienced with loved ones. Social media is about remembering anything. While social media has been perceived as self-centered and many of us are embedded in this fake reality, it has been used as a vital tool to help us remember our own history. Facebook has the "memories" feature that lets you see pictures that you posted years ago... Since that person passed away, before your puppy tuned 4, before you kid went to college, before you lost all that weight, before we forgot that one thing ever happened, many of these moments are vanished from the minds of people until Facebook notifies us. In Lee Humphery's book,"The Qualified Self," she says, "We can use media accounting to document and share wonderful and tragic life events that we can collectively celebrate and mourn." (Chapter 4) While it doesn't really matter when I die, I'd like to think I'll be remembered, even if it's just once a year on Facebook memories.

Death doesn’t discriminate but does social media?

Stefanoaica Ionut

I hope that I didn't bring this up too soon however KobeBryant. I feel like social media knew he died before he actually did. This father, son, husband, athlete, celebrity, inspiration, tragically left this world, or did he? Social media grieved the death of their beloved athlete on the 26th of January, 2020. I felt sad, of course, it was a tragic event that I don't think anybody should have to go through, but have I said anything on social media? No. I was honestly afraid of sharing it, because I didn't want to use his death as a costume of my own performance. I knew who he was, but I wasn't a true fan of his, I've already seen lots of people going after others saying they shouldn't share anything because they weren't "True Kobe fans." I'd have to agree, people made his death all about them but it's nothing compared to what his wife and children are going through. Social media is like a curse and a cure, I think it's sick his loved ones had to find out about his death through TMZ, but we all know that his legacy will live on through social media.

Babies… Dead Babies.

It's hard to deal with death, particularly when it's your own kid. Lee Humphrey recalls the Rosalyn Racca Incident in "The Qualified Self" when photographs of her son were flagged as inappropriate content because her son was born dead. There's always the argument about remembering and moving on, but I think it's up to the individual to make that decision and not social media. Remembering comes with the power to continue a friendship with the deceased and provide comfort even after death. This is not new, we heard in the 16th century that mothers still protected their dead babies' portraits. It allowed them to have a relationship with the child despite the fact that they never lived. Having pictures in homes and on social media allows conversation about your child to be invited. I think it was because people no longer have to grieve alone that people enjoy it. Sympathy is generated so people no longer need to feel alone. I read this article about how Facebook is basically a digital graveyard, by Brandon Ambrosine. Were on social media either alive or dead but it still binds us through it all.

In Loving MEmory.

Authenticity is not enough.

Altug Karakoc

I hate when people take pictures and say they're "authentic" or so. It's definitely an important part of being a good photo, but is there something genuine and fresh in it? Millions and billions of images have been published so that in a way it is not accurate to say the work is original. A lot has changed from dairies to social media, or has it? Humphrey explains social media as the modern-day diary and claims that social media is not necessarily bad but is part of this long-standing tradition of how media binds us. There are similarities to journaling as to posting on facebook and sharing your thoughts, all of these tools are used to maintain relationships and a sense of presence in one another's life.  I never really thought about how our forms of communication have evolved. I believe that besides switching from paper and pen to screens and thumbs, nothing really has changed.