#grief online

[chillaxconsciousness]

ur totally dead!

exploring digital ghosts, tools for grieving and legacies

written by kaylz

Have you ever wondered what happens when you die? Well, sucks, I can’t answer that question.

               What I can talk about is what happens to your social media and online data when you die; an issue not often considered by the masses who are caught up in the present cycles of consumerism and the newest TikTok trends, or the older generation who doesn’t understand the world’s rapidly evolving technology. However, there is a dedicated following of those interested in the topic of thanotechnology, digital technology used post-death for things like memorialization.

               Oliver Misraje writes about thanotechnology, how our legacies outlast us online, ghosts in the digital space and some ways people use technology to process or express their grief in the article “The Internet is a Graveyard”. Misraje explains how after we die our digital remains, the data we leave behind on social media and other technological networks, form a “HTTP ghost” of the user we were. This ghost becomes our digital legacy, offering a snapshot of insight into our curated online personality and life in the 21st century more broadly. We are constantly creating digital archives — that we don’t own — of our day-to-day lives. These can be valuable historical resources for the future if Big Tech companies (like Facebook and Apple) don't delete them, but this means that these companies control the future of our historical narrative just like they control what happens with our current data.

               Often, the issue of digital legacies isn’t relevant until someone is already gone. If you’ve had a loved one pass is recent years then you may have had to go through the process of deleting or memorializing their social media accounts, which usually requires a proof of death; this may include a death certificate, obituary article, or an online will. A popular example is the Instagram account of child star Cameron Boyce, popular from the Disney Channel show Jessie, who died in 2019 from complications with epilepsy. His account still retains 12.1 million followers, but has a distinct “Remembering” banner in the bio.

Considering that 4.48 billion people use social media (that’s more than half the population!!) and there will be a projected 4.9 billion inactive accounts on Facebook by 2100, it’s important to know how to protect your digital legacy. FYI, the best way to ensure your digital accounts are handled when you die is to create an online will or appoint a legacy contact who has access to your passwords when the time comes.

Another way technology can help us come to terms with death is through emerging digital tools that help us grieve. Misraje’s article contains examples of using AI or chatbots to seek closure, trying Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy, and the terrifying prospect of Big Tech monopolizing on our digital ghosts. Underappreciated online resources also include hotlines and messaging services that support people struggling with mental health issues or crises.

Another interesting suggestion from Misraje is poetic therapy. Humans have been writing poems about loss and in memoriam of loved ones since the days of Ancient Greece, and the poetic form of the elegy was popularized during the Renaissance. It led to classics like W.H. Auden’s “In Memory of W.B. Yeats” and the lyric, “Is it romantic how all my elegies / Eulogize me?” by Taylor Swift on the bonus track “the lakes” from her 2020 album folklore.

Eulogies and elegies are similar, with the key difference being that an elegy is typically some kind of prose, but both are writings that express sorrow or melancholy – usually over the loss of a family member, close friend, or lover. Misraje’s article includes an example of how a journalist named Vauhini Vara successfully prompted GPT-3 to write about her sister’s death. With the recent explosion of popularity for AI systems like ChatGPT, why not use the easily accessible digital tools at the tips of your fingers to process overwhelming emotions like grief and explore the human ability to create emotional connection with technology?

Or, if you’re feeling technology-adverse, you can always try it the old-fashioned way and write out your own feelings with a pen and some paper. Grief is one of those nearly intangible emotions, functioning – much like the Internet itself – in an omnipresent and difficult-to-pin-down way, and everyone has to experience and process it in their own time. Yet, regardless of your comfort level with using digital tools to grieve, it’s important to understand how thanotechnology is developing and the impact it can have on your digital legacy.

Ultimately, I’ll never be able to tell you what happens when you die, but I can advise you to protect your digital legacy – and pick a legacy contact who will never show your family your spam Instagram account.

TTYL, kaylz :)

[shortboxcomicsfair]

Such a striking cover, and beautifully crisp and clean-lined preview pages from Bianca Bagnarelli's new comic, 'Dog Days': In the dog days of summer, a boy's connection to the family pets cause him to abandon all ties to childhood. Don't miss it at the fair this October. This comic will be released digitally in October as part of ShortBox Comics Fair, an online-only event that will see the release of over 100+ new, original comics from artists around the world!

[vriskarlmarx]

it kind of grinds my gears how much of the commemoration of the coup (both here in chile but also abroad and online) is centered around the figure of allende specifically. there is obviously an affection for him as a figure on the part of former UP militants and people who both benefitted from and generally believed in allende's project in the 60s through '73, and i don't really have a problem with that, but i think it's an issue when allendist nostalgia clouds the judgement of more serious political analysis and action.

like the very obvious thing that it obscures is that there were actually several thousands of victims of murder, forced disappearance, torture, exile, incarceration and sexual violence. to have public discourse and political discussion focus overwhelmingly on the murder of one person does not do justice to all those people, many of whom may have supported allende's government but whose political projects far exceeded his in terms of radicalism. the popular movement in chile in that time period included socialists, communists, miristas, lautaristas, anarchists, and people who were organized workers not affiliated with a political party, and not all of them were even affiliated with the UP, and all of them were targets of the dictatorship. it is erroneous in terms of historical analysis to flatten that plurality to just one person, when there was a huge and powerful popular movement that both backed and exceeded him.

relatedly, i think insisting on carrying out memory this way also treats 1973 as a definite ending. and it is the ending of the project of the UP, sure, but it is not the ending of liberatory aspirations in this territory. it didn't even end them for one single solitary minute. the movement that backed and exceeded allende was able to regroup and rearticulate into old and new organizations that resisted against the dictatorship, sure, but also openly fought for communism/socialism/anarchism (depending on the group) not just through '89, but also well into the 90s and into today. we are very much still here, and still being targeted by the state that cynical commemorates allende every year. pretending that this is all about him overlooks the people who have been killed at the hands of the state since the return of democracy, too, like alonso who was killed 3 days ago in this year's commemorative march, and claudia who was killed in the same circumstances 26 years ago.

the other thing is that allendist nostalgia is reformist in nature, so it's not surprising to see this kind of thing from reformists (though i still don't like it for the above reasons), but it's pretty surprising to see it from people who espouse revolutionary projects. with the utmost respect, this sort of nostalgia and capital-R romance that enshrines allende as some sort of tragic hero only lends credence to a failed reformist project. perhaps the big lesson to be learned from the UP project is that reformism in our political context is doomed to failure, which does not mean that what happened wasn't unjust and horrific, but it is what happened and if we are going to move forward with any degree of seriousness then we have to recognize it for what it was and learn from it.

[baby-girl-aaron-dessner]

The leaks have confirmed that Joe Alwyn NEVER cheated.

For the people who have been accusing Joe of cheating and using that as justification to harass his co-workers - Emma Laird and Alison Oliver - what have you got to say now?

[letgoofthatego]

i want to go home

[grits-galraisedinthesouth]

"The alliterate one was yelling at a producer after the interview." 🤔

Well of course she did 🤪

By the way, it is past time for Jane Pauley to retire. Jane couldn't see the difference between Sparry's hand & his thigh : "...and I see you touch your HUSBAND'S HAND in just the way I knew you would be looking after one another."

Someone is Off Script 🤪😂

HAPPY Meg: to speak about her fake unaliving & the tell tell: "I wasn't expecting that..." She had a SCRIPT on the ready, along w/yet another veiled threat to the BRF

ANGRY Meg: Pauley said, "the 2 of you, a modest beginning it's NOT an army (yet). What are your ambitions?" This was the 1 time Pauley went off script.

Like vinegar in Meg's mouth: "you have to start somewhere..." BUSTED!

This "network" is a smokescreen, an illusion. The Meghans are tragedy vultures who grift off the pain of parents whose children are deceased. They intend to exploit these parents to pass legislation like KOSA, to criminalize online criticism and monitor social credit scores

Tragedy Vultures

Oh look, she's latched onto another mother of a deceased child. 🤔 ⚰

Q-Where did these TRAGEDY VULTURES meet the bereaved parents?⚰

A-They met these bereaved parents in October 2023 in NYC for the 2nd annual World Mental Health Day. archeFRAUD Partnered with Project Healthy Minds (Carson Daily) to target the potential activism of this niche group of bereaved parents who experienced the unthinkable----a child gone too soon.

archeFRAUD plans to use their website and resources as an online hub of "connection" for the parent bereavement stories. The financial backers are: the radical left NAACP, Boston's radical left Fairplay, ParentsSOS, Center for Humane Technology, George Soros Open Societies Foundations, Omisyar Network, Craig Newmark Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Ford Foundation, Pritzker Family Foundation, Pritzker Innovation Fund, Parent's For Safe Online Spaces, David's Legacy Foundation, etc.

They intend to use untouchable stories of sorrow & death to bully Congress into criminalizing online criticism. This has been a longtime mission for elites like noprah, tyler perry, hollyweird stars, celebrity & political island visitors made up of wealthy elites who do illegal deeds in the shadows. These groups have been on a 20 year mission to go back to the comfort & secrecy of the pre-internet era. They are desperate for their wicked deeds to remain in the dark, but they need forward facing idiots like Meghan & Sparry to serve as their mouthpieces.

ME-gain & Sparry are tragedy vultures, grifting off the grief of bereaved families. Their mission to "raise awareness by sharing these parent stories" is to criminalize online online users for "hate speech" aka any criticism of ME-gain via the digital online town square. The NAACP is money laundering to meet the elites digital justice goals. Please contact Congress to Stop KOSA.

The October 2023 Comments under this Access Hollyweird video are GOLD!!

[ruminate88]

”The pain of realizing everything you felt and cared about was all a lie. You’ve been played and now you don’t know your own reality.”

[merilles]

the elf and the beorning 💚✨

[iangallagherisadeadman]

real love by big thief (masterpiece, 2016)

#!: ☆ more posts like this: gallavich x this velvet glove ; mandy, lip and karen x till' you're mine ; gallavich x paul ; shameless x arctic monkeys ; shameless moodboards ; shameless playlists

[satans-knitwear]

Draft folder my beloved, what would i do without you?? 🥺

Treat me ~ Tip me ~ More of me

[feline17ff]

Found a new YouTube channel called The Financial Diet. Videos include:

"You're Not Ugly, You're Just Poor": A Deep Dive (watched)

How The Wealthy Gaslight America

It's Not Just You: Jobs Didn't Used To Be This Terrible (watched)

The Toxic Boomer Money Advice You Need To Unlearn (watched)

3 Lessons From My No-Buy Year That Totally Changed My Finances (watched)

3 Things I No Longer Buy After My No-Buy Year (watched)

4 Lies From The Beauty Industry That Trick You Into Spending More Money (watched)

4 Minimalist Principles I Practice After Quitting Shopping For 1 Year (watched)

Overcoming "Post-Traumatic Broke Syndrome" & Building Real Wealth (watched, features TheBudgetnista Tiffany Aliche who talks about the finances of grief, the lasting effects of being broke, and what it means to be truly good with money)

Why ADHD Makes Money So Hard (And What To Do About It)

[sunmoontruth-stiles]

I need a completely rewritten teen wolf series with Derek Hale as the main character. I think it would heal me.

[shortboxcomicsfair]

When her grandfather dies, Bark, a butch lesbian, decides to journey back south for his funeral to a place where she never felt belonging. 'Is It Ok To Say Goodbye?' is a superb new comic from Sydney Agans, balancing humour and pathos.

This comic will be released digitally in October as part of ShortBox Comics Fair, an online-only event that will see the release of over 100+ new, original comics from artists around the world!

[beaft]

I hate my stupid giant feet why is it so hard to find nice shoes that fit

[leafatlaw]

Said, with a thousand yard stare and slightly haunted eyes: hey guys i found another youtube series with no fandom to hyperfixate on

[pastelfable]

I DON'T CARE IF YOU'VE NEVER PLAYED PSO2 OR HAVE NEVER HEARD OF IT I NEED TO SETTLE A DEBATE. WHICH OF THESE CHARACTERS WOULD BE A TUMBLR SEXYMAN