Digital Death: Mortality and Beyond in the Online Age: Mortality and Beyond in the Online Age

A deceased person’s profile therefore offers visitors a venue for “continued conversation” with the deceased as they “integrat[e] their mourning practices directly into their ongoing social relationships.”

References to the deceased user as “in heaven,” “up there,” and “with us in spirit” are common, indicating hope that not only may the dead person observe the activities of the living, she or he also may view digital messages about those events.

At a funeral, as one Facebook user said, “usually the people who were the closest get to speak. But on Facebook, even if you knew the person just a little bit you can share a memory.”

that the dead can remain socially alive because of their sustained presence in memory and the objects that support it.

“Facebook doesn’t connect me to anyone, it connects me to Facebook . . . [as] an accomplice to my own isolation.”

A memorial object is built and maintained by an audience composed of mourners rather than by an institution.

From this possibility of enhancing the happiness of the deceased comes the implication that the message sender and intended recipient will be reunited eventually.

“There is nothing that is sacred in itself, only things sacred in relation,”31 we can infer that while Facebook is not inherently sacred, users can make it so—or at least sanctify an individual’s page—simply by treating it or relating to it as such.

Recently, however, a new application, aptly called “If I Die,” allows users to craft a final “status update” in the form of text or video that will be published to the user’s profile once one’s three designated trustees report the death to Facebook for verification.