Commentary

Good Grief

Last week I received an email from a friend that informed me of an illness of our mutual friends mother. Now, I have been out of touch with both of these friends for the past few years, so I was very thankful to be contacted. The email instructed me that several of our mutual friends were asked to write back messages of encouragement to be put in a package to be sent to the friend with the sick mother.

Immediately, I replied. However, as endearingly as I tried to convey my thoughts via email, I wondered what is the appropriate way to use technology when dealing with grief?

In an effort to contact a group of people in a timely manner, email was the obvious choice to provide plenty of information and unlimited space of recipients. Sending a text message would seem too cold when delivering somber news.

As society continues to use quicker ways to communicate, where are we when it comes to grief? I would bet that when dealing with grief, technology is the least likely of forms to express well wishes.

Maybe technology is not the ideal form of communication in all situations?

2 comments about "Good Grief".
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  1. JMF Bero, March 10, 2008 at 8:49 a.m.

    Using digital media in the form of custom web pages to express support and encouragement for a person who is ill is common. In fact, many hospitals encourage and sponsor these pages.
    As a person who has used these pages to keep people informed of the medical condition of a family member, I can say they are a great way of keeping in touch with friends and family without having to field constant phone calls from well-meaning friends and family.
    Reading words of encouragement from people everyday helped us get through a traumatic experience. It's good to know people are pulling for you.

  2. Amy Jussel from Copy/Concepts, March 15, 2008 at 1:25 p.m.

    From womb to tomb, digital media has become a central communications tool for sharing 'en masse,' from birth/new baby digital journals to memorials, tributes and journals such as you mention. (even Second Life's virtual world and social media like MySpace have hosted emotional outpourings of grief from news events (school shootings/911, etc.) so I think we need to alter our Emily Post views of life and embrace the power of the technology to comfort those in need, ANY way we can. (a handwritten scrawl is sometimes the tender touch follow-up to digital initiations, so it doesn't have to be 'either/or.'

    In fact, I wrote an entire post on this on Shaping Youth about media, kids and grieving resources, from pet loss to peers here: http://www.shapingyouth.org/blog/?p=859

    As Shakespeare said, "Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak whispers the o'er-fraught heart and bids it break."

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