Are you trapped in online grieving?
Social networking sites are no longer just romancing platforms…
We all enjoy veiling ourselves under the Facebook face mask, so much so that we have ended up creating our own virtual personalities — which, in most cases, could be starkly different from our real selves. And just as we had come to terms with people flaunting their relationship statuses on the web and accepting online romances as 'normal trend', the latest net bug has also as easily bitten the world wide web. It's online grieving!
Jolive Fernandes, 21, a media executive, is an out-and-out computer geek. When his seven-year-old pet died of food poisoning, the first thing he did was post a Facebook post and then put it up on Twitter. "Terror, unlike his name, was the most adorable Pit Bull who lived with us for nearly 12 years now. My dad got him when I was seven years old. He will be sorely missed, his playful presence will be a deep loss for me, my family and friends," he posted on the social networking site.
Take for instance, the recent case of legendary Bollywood actor Shami Kapoor's death. The Twiteratti was abuzz with condolences as people splashed countless RIPs. Or the more recent one — that of renowned artist Jehangir Sabavala's demise. These are only some of the countless evident examples.
It was Kimberly Falconer, a clinical psychology PhD candidate at University of Pennsylvania who came up with the study that pointed out this new phenomenon. Falconer assessed the psychological value of online grieving as a means to work through the four tasks of mourning — accepting the reality of the loss, dealing with the pain, readjusting to the environment and reinvesting in life, while forging a new bond.
Psychologist Ronak Brar feels that this "outpouring" has emerged from people's busy schedules. "People are so engaged in their daily chores that they are resorting to the easy and convenient way of expressing their remorse," he says. "It is also an indication that the virtual world is threatening to overshadow the real one."
Clearly, it looks like social networking sites have become the new funeral grounds. For good or for bad, we can't really say!
Social networking sites are no longer just romancing platforms…
We all enjoy veiling ourselves under the Facebook face mask, so much so that we have ended up creating our own virtual personalities — which, in most cases, could be starkly different from our real selves. And just as we had come to terms with people flaunting their relationship statuses on the web and accepting online romances as 'normal trend', the latest net bug has also as easily bitten the world wide web. It's online grieving!
Jolive Fernandes, 21, a media executive, is an out-and-out computer geek. When his seven-year-old pet died of food poisoning, the first thing he did was post a Facebook post and then put it up on Twitter. "Terror, unlike his name, was the most adorable Pit Bull who lived with us for nearly 12 years now. My dad got him when I was seven years old. He will be sorely missed, his playful presence will be a deep loss for me, my family and friends," he posted on the social networking site.
Take for instance, the recent case of legendary Bollywood actor Shami Kapoor's death. The Twiteratti was abuzz with condolences as people splashed countless RIPs. Or the more recent one — that of renowned artist Jehangir Sabavala's demise. These are only some of the countless evident examples.
It was Kimberly Falconer, a clinical psychology PhD candidate at University of Pennsylvania who came up with the study that pointed out this new phenomenon. Falconer assessed the psychological value of online grieving as a means to work through the four tasks of mourning — accepting the reality of the loss, dealing with the pain, readjusting to the environment and reinvesting in life, while forging a new bond.
Psychologist Ronak Brar feels that this "outpouring" has emerged from people's busy schedules. "People are so engaged in their daily chores that they are resorting to the easy and convenient way of expressing their remorse," he says. "It is also an indication that the virtual world is threatening to overshadow the real one."
Clearly, it looks like social networking sites have become the new funeral grounds. For good or for bad, we can't really say!
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