Aaron D. Neufeld

Aaron D. Neufeld- BLOG #41- ‘Death and Technology’

I think it is very interesting how technology plays a part in death. Forget death by technology for now—cancer and all that is a whole other story. But simply how technology plays a role post-mortem. A few years ago, you probably wouldn’t find out about a death unless it was your family alerting you. Even if you did find out about a family member passing or a friend, it was either by word of mouth or phone-call so that you could attend the funeral. Otherwise, you’d find out much later by an actual letter or an e-mail.
With technology these days, the news of someone passing away spreads faster than you could imagine. I have experienced this first hand. Often, friends or strangers find out about someone passing before even family members are notified. When a close friend in high school passed away, someone who didn’t even know him instant messaged me with the bad news because an e-mail was sent out to all parents by the school who was notified from the family of the student who passed, so she was told by her parents shortly after the school was notified. Even just last week, a friend’s grandmother passed away. My friend’s mom chose to update her facebook status with information regarding the funeral. Once I saw the information, I texted my friend with my condolences and it turns out he hadn’t found out yet because his mother updated her status before contacting her family. I also texted or facebooked fellow friends with the news and within just a few hours of passing, everyone knew.