Social Media and Death: What is your plan?

[Commander Wallace]

Originally Posted by Platapus

I might as well share my opinions on this since I started it.

I don't have a large social media presence and would probably wish it to simply die off once I... well...uh... die off.

This is especially true for my social presence with people I have never actually met.

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

I feel pretty similar and short of a sudden unexpected death, more in the way of something expected I think I'd leave instructions and a set of contact details for my lad to notify those I would want informing.

Hopefully that is a long way off though.

I feel pretty much the same way. The only difference Platapus is the fact that people here would want to know and as Jim said, would probably leave a way to notify people. That's just a courtesy I think. It doesn't need to be anything elaborate. It could be something like this.


" Joe was here but now he's gone. He left his name to carry on. Those who knew him, knew him well. Those who didn't can go to " ........
You get the picture


Seriously, a large number of people in the entertainment industry have been lost this year. It's somewhat odd that we grieve them, having never met them for the most part. I'm guessing that's because in a large way, these musicians have in our own mind, wrote the soundtrack and anthems to our own lives and struggles. We tend to connect personal events in our lives to songs and the artists who wrote and performed them.

In various ways, we feel we know these musicians even though we didn't because we connected with their music and the messages they conveyed through their songs.

I know that's a personal thing most musicians work hard to get through to their listeners and it's gratifying if they have. Their music tends to live on long after they are gone and is a legacy which time only serves to make more endearing. For musicians, it doesn't get any better than to be remembered that way.

[Platapus]

Originally Posted by Commander Wallace

Seriously, a large number of people in the entertainment industry have been lost this year. It's somewhat odd that we grieve them, having never met them for the most part.

I have to admit that this is something I just don't understand. When an entertainer dies, their work does not cease to exist. You can still enjoy their work as much as you did when they were alive. This is especially true with entertainers who have retired. If the entertainer was still active, I can imagine someone being sad or disappointed that there will be no future work produced.

I guess grieve means different things to different people. I suspect that in the case of entertainers it may be a case of who can post the most public grief.

But to actually grieve (not just in public) someone you never met and really did not know, that's weird to me.

I can be sad that someone died, but to actually grieve? That, to me, requires an actual personal relationship.

But people handle death different.

[Rockstar]

I say keep'em guessing, its how legends are made.

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by Rockstar

I say keep'em guessing, its how legends are made.

[Commander Wallace]

Originally Posted by Platapus

I can be sad that someone died, but to actually grieve? That, to me, requires an actual personal relationship.

But people handle death different.

You just answered it very eloquently. If you are saddened someone you never met has passed on, then that is grieving them, albeit it, in your own way. Further, you cannot be saddened someone you have never met has passed on unless you made a connection to that individual in a tangible way.