One has become quite used to the abrasive, abusive nature of certain social media platforms, and it is with relief that one sees its potentially curative nature. Alongside the political rants, the generic puppies and kittens pics, the humble-brag travel and acquisition posts, I started to see people posting about intensely personal experiences. It could be a less than pleasant trip out of town, the travails of someone willy-nilly pitchforked into navigating matrimonial ads and boy/girl seeing sessions, the pitfalls of dating apps backed by personal, mostly less-than-good experiences.
Then the posts started to make mention of loss. A young woman lost her beloved mother to Covid. Another lost her husband and mother-in-law, again to the virus. Both posted a set of heartbreaking missives, a virtual update on how they were coping with the tragedy. A third person lost his wife to cancer and posted a tribute which brought tears to the eyes of those reading it. Yet another poster, newly bereaved, shared a son’s moving tribute to his father, her late husband.
Since I can clearly recall the time when intense grief was usually a private affair, I would be lying if I said these very private posts didn’t startle me at first. But the more I thought about it, the more sense it seemed to make. If people are forever commenting on matters that are quite trivial and which usually had nothing to do with them, then it made sense for those people to share in the grief of those they knew/those...
Read Full Story: https://www.newindianexpress.com/magazine/voices/2021/sep/12/social-media-as-therapist-2356598.html
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