Time process of death on the internet
Keywords:
death, the rite of passage, postmortem death, internet, time process, digital identityAbstract
In contemporary society, the internet has a huge role in the everyday life. It is not surprising that, along with other aspects of life, the process of death also found its place online. Through mourning rituals, internet users often create relations with the digital identities of those who passed away, leading to prolongation of the social death. By looking into the rites of passage and the concept of postmortem dying, this paper will look into the time process and ritual of the social death of digital identity after someone’s physical death. Through the analysis of the social networks and interviews with the users who have lost their loved ones, the paper offers an analysis of the time frame and mourning rites. It also offers the answer to the question if, and at what level, cultural and social rituals that surround the identity of the deceased change in the internet sphere and on the social networks, compared to those played out in the “real” time and space.
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