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Who wants to live forever? : living, dying and grieving in our digital society
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Bassett, Debra J. (2015) Who wants to live forever? : living, dying and grieving in our digital society. Social Sciences, 4 (4). pp. 1127-1139. doi:10.3390/socsci4041127 ISSN 2076-0760.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/socsci4041127
Abstract
Almost ubiquitous hardware technology, such as smart phones, ensures that social networking sites are part of users’ everyday norms and routines. However, some are now using these new communication technologies to deal with the issues of death, dying and grief. With the hope of being able to create digital memories to leave behind for future generations, the opportunity to “live on” and become digitally immortal is seen as empowering to some: but what about those left behind? Through a review of the current literature exploring how social media are being used as a new space to grieve and mourn, this paper contributes to the literature by arguing for the need for clarity in the lexicon being used by thanatologists and other disciplines. Furthermore, it introduces the term “digital zombie” to describe the dead who remain “alive” in our digital society. The paper concludes by joining the call for further research into the nascent phenomena being generated by human-computer interaction.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
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Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology | ||||||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Sociology | ||||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Grief, Online social networks | ||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Social Sciences | ||||||||
Publisher: | M D P I AG | ||||||||
ISSN: | 2076-0760 | ||||||||
Official Date: | 20 November 2015 | ||||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 4 | ||||||||
Number: | 4 | ||||||||
Number of Pages: | 12 | ||||||||
Page Range: | pp. 1127-1139 | ||||||||
DOI: | 10.3390/socsci4041127 | ||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 2 February 2016 | ||||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 4 February 2016 |
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