Grief in the Digital Age: How Social Media Impacts Our Mourning Process
Social media is nearly impossible to escape these days. Some people’s livelihood revolves around social media, so they can’t escape it on the job. But have you ever thought about how that might impact someone during a trying time? More specifically, how would social media affect someone’s mourning process?
Believe it or not, social media can positively and negatively impact the process. The effects really depend on how you spend your time on social media and whether you choose to give in to negative comments or not. Social media can help you with your grieving process, but it has to be done positively.
Positive Effects Social Media Has On The Mourning Process
Social media may not be perfect, but it provides some good outlets for a person going through the loss of a loved one.
Social Media Can Connect You To Others
When someone is in mourning, they may want to hide themselves away due to the pain. However, self-isolation will only make the hurt harder to deal with. As human beings, we are social creatures by nature. We need others to survive, and that includes going through the mourning process.
Keeping feelings bottled up inside will only exacerbate the problem. That’s why having a source to talk to about these feelings is vital to grieving. Social media gives mourners the opportunity to connect with others going through similar situations.
You Can Honor A Loved One By Using Social Media
Many people go to social media when they’ve lost a loved one. Posting a memorial on Facebook or Instagram can provide a sense of catharsis and honor the memory of that loved one. A nice image with some words that truly come from the heart may seem like little, but you would be surprised at how it can help.
However, some people may want to do more than take the image and picture route. Those gifted with artistic talents may create an art project to honor the deceased. Posting that project may not only help the one directly affected but also help others who see it.
Social Media Provides More Ways To Share Your Grief
As previously mentioned, keeping emotions hidden is not the way to grieve. Social media allows the user many ways to let the grief out in healthy ways. For example, sharing funeral information or charity events in the person’s honor can do much for the grief. Of course, this would be less for wider social media and more for people in direct circles of the deceased.
Negative Effects Social Media Has On The Grieving Process
We’ve all heard the negative takes on social media, “the endless doom-scrolling “or being absolutely obsessed with likes and comments. Just like with every light side of things, there is a dark side, and that includes social media and grieving.
Social Media Can Influence Isolation
Who hasn’t encountered the endless scrolling effect when depressed? Seeing a cute animal post may help you smile for a minute, but without getting away from the phone and connecting with others, you won’t really get away from your grief.
Comparisons To Others
We know we shouldn’t do this, but it’s easy to get into the habit of comparing ourselves with others, even when it comes to grief. You may see another post by a user who lost someone and believe that your grief is invalid. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. All grief is valid.
Negative Comments
It’s important to remember when deciding to post on social media, that there is always going to be someone with something negative to say. It may be easier said than done, but the best thing to do is pay no mind to them.
If you would like to learn more about the grieving process or talk about healthy ways to grieve feel free to contact me.