Courtesy of TheAtlantic.com | 08.20.13 | By PAUL BISCEGLIO http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/08/how-social -media-is-changing-the-way-we-approach-death/278836/
Death has long been taboo in an American culture that values youth, but an open conversation online can increase our enjoyment of life and understanding of its eventual end.
For a week last month, Scott Simon, the popular radio host of NPR’s “Weekend Edition Saturday,” stayed by his mother’s side in a Chicago hospital as she died. She ate and slept little, and spent her final nights singing show tunes with Simon and holding his hand. “We can get through this, baby,” she told him at one point. “The hardest part will be for you when it’s over.”
I know these intimate details because I, like more than a million others, followed Simon on Twitter when news that he was sharing his hospital experience went viral. From July 22 to 29, @nprscottsimon tweeted about everything from the kindness of ICU nurses to the hassle of finding something comfortable to sleep on to his mother’s tear-inducing deathbed wit.
Since his mother’s passing, Simon’s tweets have stirred up a national debate on social media’s place in mourning and the appropriateness of making a matter as personal (and morbid) as death so public. The consensus seems to be that as social media-savvy generations age, death will creep its way onto platforms like Facebook and Twitter more and more. But questions remain. What will this do to us? How does talking more about death change the way we approach it, both when it’s close at hand and during our everyday, healthy lives?
Continue Reading “How Social Media…”
Dying & Death Talk 