We are embarrassed by the dead on social media. What does this say about us? And what is the best way to deal with the account of a deceased user? Numbers and comments.
Together with the sociologists of the Levada Center, we continue to draw up a psychological portrait of our society. Today we decided to find out how social network users feel about the fate of accounts after the death of their owners. The reason for the survey was the release of the film “Remove from friends” directed by Leo Gabriadze.
Each of us had (or will have to) face the death of friends and acquaintances. Since the creation of the Facebook network, about 30 million of its users have died.1. Social networks can become giant virtual cemeteries – if not taken care of. In fact, there are not many such measures. The first is to delete the accounts of the deceased (networks operating in Russia provide such an opportunity to relatives after proof of kinship and confirmation of death).
The second way is the so-called “commemorative status”, which can be assigned to an account. In this case, it is saved on the Web, but only a trusted person has access to it, and account activity is not displayed in the feeds of other users. And finally the third option is to transfer access to heirs (the mechanism of this transfer has not been legally worked out).
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Sociologists offered to consider these three options for the Russians. And the majority of them (41,4%) were in favor of the complete removal of the accounts of the deceased. 30,2% supported the idea of commemorative statuses, and almost 23,9% would like to pass on account management by inheritance.2 This issue evokes strong emotions. “The fact is that most of us do not know how to cope with loss,” explains psychologist Yevgeny Osin. “Accepting someone’s death requires inner work that not everyone is ready for. Therefore, signals from the accounts of deceased people can cause stress or irritation.”
Interestingly, the For the complete deletion of accounts are mainly those who have not yet encountered the death of friends on social networks. Those users who have such experience tend to memorial status. “It seems to me that it makes sense to keep accounts,” Evgeny Osin reflects. – It is important for friends and relatives of the deceased to have the opportunity to look there in order to remember the person – what he lived, what he thought, to share his feelings with his friends on his page. After all, social networks are part of the world in which everyone leaves their mark. If we want to erase all references to the dead from the Web, it’s worth considering: aren’t we doing the same in life? Perhaps this is a sign of our hidden anxiety associated with the theme of death. Awareness of the finiteness of life helps to live better, to live more fully every day.
1 According to theloop.ca information site
2 The survey was conducted on June 19–22, 2015. For more information, visit www.levada.ru