{"id":83457,"date":"2025-03-01T06:17:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-01T12:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/?p=83457"},"modified":"2025-01-28T09:19:27","modified_gmt":"2025-01-28T15:19:27","slug":"social-media-changed-way-we-grieve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/social-media-changed-way-we-grieve\/","title":{"rendered":"Has Social Media Changed the Way We Process Grief?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Korie Mulholland was 21 years old when her brother, Kwinn Mulholland, passed away suddenly. The siblings had begun to establish their own lives: Korie had been away at college for a couple of years, and 19-year-old Quinn was working at McDonald\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2012, Facebook was only 8 years old, but it had already claimed its place as the most visited social media platform. After Kwinn passed, Korie noticed comments on his page from many of his friends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe had all of these friends and people in his life that I didn\u2019t know about,\u201d Korie says. \u201cI remember reading inside jokes that they posted and seeing the side of my brother that I didn\u2019t know about\u2014and I would have never known about, if it weren\u2019t for social media. It gave me an appreciation for all the people he had in his life who cared about him and who missed him.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since its conception, social media has changed the way we process grief\u2014in some cases for the better, and in others, maybe not so much. Social media has made it easier to notify others about a loved one\u2019s death while the family is still dealing with the initial shock, and it has also brought opportunity for people to come together and celebrate their loved one. But on the flip side, social media<\/a> users may also use public grief for attention or profit.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s take a closer look at the ways that social media has changed the way we grieve, as well as the pros and cons of using it to express grief for our lost loved ones online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\"Leadership<\/a>\n\n\n\n

Notifying others<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s never welcome news to find out that someone you were once close with passed away, and it especially isn\u2019t pleasant to find out via social media. But for families, social media can relieve some of the burden of getting the word out about funeral services and other arrangements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBeing 19, a lot of [Kwin\u2019s] friends had gone away to college,\u201d Korie says. \u201cI didn\u2019t know his friends from high school and didn\u2019t have contact information, but they were able to find out and come to the funeral and the wake. The place was packed\u2014there was not enough room for everyone who attended.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grieving online: Together while apart <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Microblogging, or posting frequent social media statuses, offers a mode of undirected communication that helps people reach out for support. Research indicates<\/a> that this type of communication helps people feel less alone in difficult times. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople that are sharing their grief or grieving online are really looking for support [and] community,\u201d says Jessica Moneo<\/a>, a trauma therapist who lives in Scottsdale, Arizona. Although doing this can be cathartic, it doesn\u2019t replace in-person relationships. Moneo still urges her patients to seek offline support outside of those micro bonds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat feeling of support and community [online is] beautiful, and there\u2019s certainly a place for that,\u201d Moneo adds. \u201cHow do we kind of mesh that while [coming back] to bringing casseroles to people\u2019s houses when someone passes away?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Emily Raymond, Ph.D.<\/a>, a pediatric psychology fellow at Stanford, social media can be a space to bond over a shared love for someone who has made an impact on the community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf a schoolteacher dies, a lot of their students can come together online and talk about their positive memories of the person,\u201d she says. \u201c[It\u2019s a] positive way that social media can help us process grief<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attention seeking and monetization <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Raymond adds that people often rush to publicly grieve on social media, even for people they don\u2019t know well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSometimes it\u2019s celebrities [or] sometimes even just people in your hometown that maybe you don\u2019t even know very well,\u201d she says. \u201cBut you can kind of jump on this bandwagon of, \u2018Oh, I knew this person; therefore, I can be part of their spotlight of grief.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019s also worried about people using grief for monetary gain<\/a>. \u201cEven if it\u2019s a true personal grief that they\u2019re experiencing, they\u2019re able to monetize that, which is a very ethically and morally complex thing,\u201d Raymond says.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No right way to grieve<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Do you have to be close to people to grieve for them? Moneo doesn\u2019t think so. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat if we relabel [attention seeking] as connection seeking? It [might be] the first time that anybody they\u2019ve known has passed away,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd so for them, it does feel really big. Who are we to say who can and can\u2019t grieve?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The one caveat is that grieving online must be appropriate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf it doesn\u2019t show them in a good light or you\u2019re talking about addictions and [loved ones] don\u2019t want that up, there\u2019s a place to have a conversation around that,\u201d she adds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for Korie, she\u2019s grateful that social media has provided a space for the people who loved Kwinn to share about him, as well for his family to see how loved he was\u2014and still is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy brother\u2019s best friend still posts on his Facebook,\u201d Korie says. \u201cHe\u2019s said [he] could do it in [his] journal but that [he] posts on Kwinn\u2019s wall so that [my] mom can still see that he still cares about him and thinks about him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo by CandyRetriever\/Shutterstock.com<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Social media has changed many aspects of life, including losing loved ones. Learn how living online has changed the way we process grief.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32422,"featured_media":83458,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"ub_ctt_via":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14058],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-relationships"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/grieving-online-header.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Nia Springer-Norris","author_link":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/author\/nia-springer-norris\/"},"yoast_head":"\nHas Social Media Changed the Way We Grieve? | SUCCESS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Social media has changed many aspects of life, including losing loved ones. Learn how living online has changed the way we process grief.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Has Social Media Changed the Way We Process Grief?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Social media has changed many aspects of life, including losing loved ones. Learn how living online has changed the way we process grief. | SUCCESS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/social-media-changed-way-we-grieve\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SUCCESS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SUCCESSmagazine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-01T12:17:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/grieving-online-social.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nia Springer-Norris\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@successmagazine\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@successmagazine\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/social-media-changed-way-we-grieve\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/social-media-changed-way-we-grieve\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nia Springer-Norris\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ee80fac49d95218d81fc42e862b74ff7\"},\"headline\":\"Has Social Media Changed the Way We Process Grief?\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-01T12:17:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/social-media-changed-way-we-grieve\/\"},\"wordCount\":927,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/social-media-changed-way-we-grieve\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/grieving-online-header.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Relationships\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/social-media-changed-way-we-grieve\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2025\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/social-media-changed-way-we-grieve\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/social-media-changed-way-we-grieve\/\",\"name\":\"Has Social Media Changed the Way We Grieve? | SUCCESS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/social-media-changed-way-we-grieve\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/social-media-changed-way-we-grieve\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/grieving-online-header.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-01T12:17:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"Social media has changed many aspects of life, including losing loved ones. Learn how living online has changed the way we process grief.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/social-media-changed-way-we-grieve\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/social-media-changed-way-we-grieve\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/social-media-changed-way-we-grieve\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/grieving-online-header.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/grieving-online-header.jpg\",\"width\":1100,\"height\":733,\"caption\":\"A young women grieving online\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/social-media-changed-way-we-grieve\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Has Social Media Changed the Way We Process Grief?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/\",\"name\":\"SUCCESS\",\"description\":\"Your Trusted Guide to the Future of Work\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"SUCCESS\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/success_opengraph_image.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/success_opengraph_image.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":628,\"caption\":\"SUCCESS\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SUCCESSmagazine\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/successmagazine\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/successmagazine\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/success-magazine\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/successmagazine\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/successmagazine\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ee80fac49d95218d81fc42e862b74ff7\",\"name\":\"Nia Springer-Norris\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c056db3bb215403971183e910771dd02fbc4c0fcb2dd0d0de0253de8b7281b83?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c056db3bb215403971183e910771dd02fbc4c0fcb2dd0d0de0253de8b7281b83?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Nia Springer-Norris\"},\"description\":\"Nia Springer-Norris is a journalist, educator and web developer in the Chicago area. She writes and teaches about human-machine communication, social media culture and books. You can find her everywhere as @nianorriswrites\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/author\/nia-springer-norris\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Has Social Media Changed the Way We Grieve? | SUCCESS","description":"Social media has changed many aspects of life, including losing loved ones. Learn how living online has changed the way we process grief.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Has Social Media Changed the Way We Process Grief?","og_description":"Social media has changed many aspects of life, including losing loved ones. Learn how living online has changed the way we process grief. | SUCCESS","og_url":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/social-media-changed-way-we-grieve\/","og_site_name":"SUCCESS","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SUCCESSmagazine\/","article_published_time":"2025-03-01T12:17:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/grieving-online-social.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Nia Springer-Norris","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@successmagazine","twitter_site":"@successmagazine","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/social-media-changed-way-we-grieve\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/social-media-changed-way-we-grieve\/"},"author":{"name":"Nia Springer-Norris","@id":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ee80fac49d95218d81fc42e862b74ff7"},"headline":"Has Social Media Changed the Way We Process Grief?","datePublished":"2025-03-01T12:17:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/social-media-changed-way-we-grieve\/"},"wordCount":927,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/social-media-changed-way-we-grieve\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/grieving-online-header.jpg","articleSection":["Relationships"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.success.com\/social-media-changed-way-we-grieve\/#respond"]}],"copyrightYear":"2025","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/social-media-changed-way-we-grieve\/","url":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/social-media-changed-way-we-grieve\/","name":"Has Social Media Changed the Way We Grieve? | SUCCESS","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/social-media-changed-way-we-grieve\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/social-media-changed-way-we-grieve\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/grieving-online-header.jpg","datePublished":"2025-03-01T12:17:00+00:00","description":"Social media has changed many aspects of life, including losing loved ones. Learn how living online has changed the way we process grief.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/social-media-changed-way-we-grieve\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.success.com\/social-media-changed-way-we-grieve\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/social-media-changed-way-we-grieve\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/grieving-online-header.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/grieving-online-header.jpg","width":1100,"height":733,"caption":"A young women grieving online"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/social-media-changed-way-we-grieve\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Has Social Media Changed the Way We Process Grief?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/","name":"SUCCESS","description":"Your Trusted Guide to the Future of Work","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/#organization","name":"SUCCESS","url":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/success_opengraph_image.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/success_opengraph_image.png","width":1200,"height":628,"caption":"SUCCESS"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SUCCESSmagazine\/","https:\/\/x.com\/successmagazine","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/successmagazine","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/success-magazine\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/successmagazine","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/successmagazine"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ee80fac49d95218d81fc42e862b74ff7","name":"Nia Springer-Norris","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c056db3bb215403971183e910771dd02fbc4c0fcb2dd0d0de0253de8b7281b83?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c056db3bb215403971183e910771dd02fbc4c0fcb2dd0d0de0253de8b7281b83?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Nia Springer-Norris"},"description":"Nia Springer-Norris is a journalist, educator and web developer in the Chicago area. She writes and teaches about human-machine communication, social media culture and books. You can find her everywhere as @nianorriswrites","url":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/author\/nia-springer-norris\/"}]}},"meta_data":{"_edit_lock":["1748013094:32477"],"_thumbnail_id":["83458"],"_edit_last":["32500"],"_advads_ad_settings":["a:2:{s:11:\"disable_ads\";i:0;s:19:\"disable_the_content\";i:0;}"],"_molongui_author":["user-32422"],"_molongui_main_author":["user-32422"],"enable-for-home-page-all-post-section-set-as-first-image":["false"],"enable-for-home-page-all-post-section":["true"],"enable-for-category-section-in-home-page-set-as-first-image":["false"],"enable-for-category-section-in-home-page":["true"],"feature-video":[""],"select-video":[""],"exclude_from_trending":["false"],"type_access":["article_standard"],"disc":["s_steadiness"],"resource_library":["article"],"store_type":[""],"custom_listing_image":[""],"sync":["true"],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":["14058"],"_yoast_wpseo_title":["Has Social Media Changed the Way We Grieve? %%page%% %%sep%% %%sitename%%"],"_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":["Social media has changed many aspects of life, including losing loved ones. Learn how living online has changed the way we process grief."],"_yoast_wpseo_content_score":["90"],"_yoast_wpseo_focuskeywords":[""],"_yoast_wpseo_keywordsynonyms":[""],"_yoast_wpseo_estimated-reading-time-minutes":["5"],"_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-image":["https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/grieving-online-social-1024x538.jpg"],"_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-image-id":["83459"],"jet_engine_store_count_recently-viewed":["232"],"_molongui_author_box_display":["default"],"_molongui_author_box_position":["default"],"_yoast_indexnow_last_ping":["1740831435"],"_elementor_page_assets":["a:0:{}"]},"guest_author_field_data":{"main_author_is":"user","guest_authors":[],"user_authors":[{"user_email":"nnorris@mailinator.com","user_login":"Nia-Springer-Norris","first_name":"Nia","last_name":"Springer-Norris","display_name":"Nia Springer-Norris","nickname":"Nia-Springer-Norris","user_meta":{"nickname":["Nia-Springer-Norris"],"first_name":["Nia"],"last_name":["Springer-Norris"],"description":["Nia Springer-Norris is a journalist, educator and web developer in the Chicago area. She writes and teaches about human-machine communication, social media culture and books. You can find her everywhere as @nianorriswrites"],"rich_editing":["true"],"syntax_highlighting":["true"],"comment_shortcuts":["false"],"admin_color":["fresh"],"use_ssl":["0"],"show_admin_bar_front":["true"],"locale":[""],"wp_capabilities":["a:1:{s:6:\"author\";b:1;}"],"wp_user_level":["0"],"_yoast_wpseo_profile_updated":["1751494141"],"wp_user_avatar":[""],"dismissed_wp_pointers":[""],"molongui_author_post_count":["28"],"molongui_author_page_count":["0"],"is_geuest_user":["32422"],"wp_elementor_enable_ai":["1"],"wpseo_metadesc":[""],"wpseo_title":[""],"wpseo_content_analysis_disable":[""],"wpseo_keyword_analysis_disable":[""],"wpseo_user_schema":["a:0:{}"],"molongui_author_phone":[""],"molongui_author_job":[""],"molongui_author_company":[""],"molongui_author_company_link":[""],"molongui_author_custom_link":[""],"molongui_author_box_display":["default"],"molongui_author_image_id":[""],"molongui_author_image_url":[""],"molongui_author_image_edit":[""],"advanced-ads-role":[""]}}]},"custom_post_content":"<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Korie Mulholland was 21 years old when her brother, Kwinn Mulholland, passed away suddenly. The siblings had begun to establish their own lives: Korie had been away at college for a couple of years, and 19-year-old Quinn was working at McDonald\u2019s.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In 2012, Facebook was only 8 years old, but it had already claimed its place as the most visited social media platform. After Kwinn passed, Korie noticed comments on his page from many of his friends. <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>\u201cHe had all of these friends and people in his life that I didn\u2019t know about,\u201d Korie says. \u201cI remember reading inside jokes that they posted and seeing the side of my brother that I didn\u2019t know about\u2014and I would have never known about, if it weren\u2019t for social media. It gave me an appreciation for all the people he had in his life who cared about him and who missed him.\u201d <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Since its conception, social media has changed the way we process grief\u2014in some cases for the better, and in others, maybe not so much. Social media has made it easier to notify others about a loved one\u2019s death while the family is still dealing with the initial shock, and it has also brought opportunity for people to come together and celebrate their loved one. But on the flip side, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/why-social-media-is-ruining-your-self-esteem-and-how-to-stop-it\/\">social media<\/a> users may also use public grief for attention or profit.\u00a0<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Let\u2019s take a closer look at the ways that social media has changed the way we grieve, as well as the pros and cons of using it to express grief for our lost loved ones online.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n\n<!-- \/wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading -->\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-notifying-others\">Notifying others<\/h2>\n<!-- \/wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>It\u2019s never welcome news to find out that someone you were once close with passed away, and it especially isn\u2019t pleasant to find out via social media. But for families, social media can relieve some of the burden of getting the word out about funeral services and other arrangements. <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>\u201cBeing 19, a lot of [Kwin\u2019s] friends had gone away to college,\u201d Korie says. \u201cI didn\u2019t know his friends from high school and didn\u2019t have contact information, but they were able to find out and come to the funeral and the wake. The place was packed\u2014there was not enough room for everyone who attended.\u201d <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading -->\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-grieving-online-together-while-apart-nbsp\">Grieving online: Together while apart <\/h2>\n<!-- \/wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Microblogging, or posting frequent social media statuses, offers a mode of undirected communication that helps people reach out for support. <a href=\"https:\/\/faculty.wharton.upenn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Microblogging-and-Undirected-Communication.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Research indicates<\/a> that this type of communication helps people feel less alone in difficult times. <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>\u201cPeople that are sharing their grief or grieving online are really looking for support [and] community,\u201d says <a href=\"https:\/\/mendyourlight.org\/jessica-moneo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Jessica Moneo<\/a>, a trauma therapist who lives in Scottsdale, Arizona. Although doing this can be cathartic, it doesn\u2019t replace in-person relationships. Moneo still urges her patients to seek offline support outside of those micro bonds.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>\u201cThat feeling of support and community [online is] beautiful, and there\u2019s certainly a place for that,\u201d Moneo adds. \u201cHow do we kind of mesh that while [coming back] to bringing casseroles to people\u2019s houses when someone passes away?\u201d <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/profiles.stanford.edu\/emily-raymond\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Emily Raymond, Ph.D.<\/a>, a pediatric psychology fellow at Stanford, social media can be a space to bond over a shared love for someone who has made an impact on the community. <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>\u201cIf a schoolteacher dies, a lot of their students can come together online and talk about their positive memories of the person,\u201d she says. \u201c[It\u2019s a] positive way that social media can help us <a href=\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/invisible-loss-unacknowledged-grief\/\">process grief<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading -->\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-attention-seeking-and-monetization-nbsp\">Attention seeking and monetization <\/h2>\n<!-- \/wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Raymond adds that people often rush to publicly grieve on social media, even for people they don\u2019t know well.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>\u201cSometimes it\u2019s celebrities [or] sometimes even just people in your hometown that maybe you don\u2019t even know very well,\u201d she says. \u201cBut you can kind of jump on this bandwagon of, \u2018Oh, I knew this person; therefore, I can be part of their spotlight of grief.\u201d <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>She\u2019s also worried about people using <a href=\"https:\/\/www.success.com\/trauma-monetization\/\">grief for monetary gain<\/a>. \u201cEven if it\u2019s a true personal grief that they\u2019re experiencing, they\u2019re able to monetize that, which is a very ethically and morally complex thing,\u201d Raymond says.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading -->\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-no-right-way-to-grieve\">No right way to grieve<\/h2>\n<!-- \/wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Do you have to be close to people to grieve for them? Moneo doesn\u2019t think so. <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>\u201cWhat if we relabel [attention seeking] as connection seeking? It [might be] the first time that anybody they\u2019ve known has passed away,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd so for them, it does feel really big. Who are we to say who can and can\u2019t grieve?\u201d <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The one caveat is that grieving online must be appropriate. <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>\u201cIf it doesn\u2019t show them in a good light or you\u2019re talking about addictions and [loved ones] don\u2019t want that up, there\u2019s a place to have a conversation around that,\u201d she adds. <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>As for Korie, she\u2019s grateful that social media has provided a space for the people who loved Kwinn to share about him, as well for his family to see how loved he was\u2014and still is. <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>\u201cMy brother\u2019s best friend still posts on his Facebook,\u201d Korie says. \u201cHe\u2019s said [he] could do it in [his] journal but that [he] posts on Kwinn\u2019s wall so that [my] mom can still see that he still cares about him and thinks about him.\u201d<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph {\"fontSize\":\"small\"} -->\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\"><em><strong>Photo by CandyRetriever\/Shutterstock.com<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->","tag_names":[],"post_attachment_urls":[],"author_email":"nnorris@mailinator.com","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32422"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.success.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}