Death of a loved one

[MaineRhino]

My 95 y/o uncle died last night. We knew it was coming, he was in the hospital with pneumonia. It was just a matter of time. He was ready to go, and he said he thought God was mad at him, not taking him earlier than 95!

My cousin, his grand-daughter, posted the death notice via Facebook at about 2am this morning, before anyone else could be notified by phone or otherwise. Is this acceptable behavior in this age of instant notification and social networking? Am I missing something?

Facebook sucks. I have deleted my profile on that useless site.

[StinkerBell]

<HUG>

[fishing_guy]

Sorry for your loss.  I know your uncle may have been ready to go, but it is always hard regardless. 

Personally, I wouldn't have posted it on Facebook until all of the in-person notifications had been done.  But my kids probably wouldn't think twice about it.  Just a generational thing.  My wife is a daily obits reader, so she usually keeps me informed that way.

There have been several times though, where someone has passed on, and I didn't get the word until after the wake/funeral, so it does have it's place in notifying non-relatives.

[RainDog]

Sorry to hear about that. Hope y'all are holdin' up okay.

Facebook does seem a little cold, but it could well have been that your cousin just wasn't up to making the calls. People do odd things during times like that. I'm not hip to that scene so what I think doesn't count for much, though.

Good luck.

[peternap]

Sorry MR!

I've never found the right words at times like this. It's not possible to ease the grief, only to let others know that they do have friends that care.
Prayers have already been sent for your Uncle, Yourself and your family!
Don

[pagan]

Posting it on Facebook doesn't seem right to me. At 95 he had a good run. My grandmother was 96 and she said the same thing, she was reading to go.

[MountainDon]

I'm sorry to hear of your loss.

I wouldn't have used facebook for the posting until family and friends had been notified. If the task of telephoning was too great as task for the persom I believe they could have enlosted the help of others. Then maybe facebook if it was felt necessary. 

[glenn kangiser]

Sorry to hear that, Rhino.

I would have not personally used Facebook, but that is the life of the kids and even many older ones nowadays and to them it is just another communication device.  Our great-grandparents would not have considered the phone appropriate - maybe even our grandparents.  

As time goes on, Facebook or similar networking will become the old way and and our grandkids will be wondering if their grandchild should have sent the thought out over embedded bio-chip before the family was notified over Facebook....

We are all headed down that path.  I guess now is a good time to think about what we want to do before we get to the end of the road...maybe some nice detours...

[MaineRhino]

Many thanks to all of you for the kind words and prayers.

I still think Facebook is useless.

[glenn kangiser]

I agree that most of the games there are very "simple" entertainment at best and I avoid all of them, but I do find it easy to contact friends such as my likely cousin in Chile instantly to see how they are -in that case after the earthquake.  It is a quick way to say hi to the kids and friends and see what information they care to share with the world.  It is a good way to see how shallow your blond cousin really is....

"Apps" there feel they must access all of your personal information and disperse it globally.  CIA, FBI, NSA, other gov entities, and big business use what you post there to spy on you and encourage it's use.

I don't play games though...

Most of it, I agree, is just mental graffiti.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Maine Rhino,
  So sorry for your loss.  I'm guilty of having posted a death on facebook recently.  Last Thursday, my Grandma passed away after  several weeks of poor health.  Pretty much all of the immediate family had already gotten calls, but the internet is one of the quickest ways to disperse information to a lot of people.  I posted because a lot of friends had been praying for her, and asking daily how she was doing, and after the very long week we'd all had, I just didn't have it in me to sit up making phone calls all night.     It was much easier to just pretend it didn't happen after making a brief post than it would have been if I'd had to make all the calls..... Like Glenn, I don't use the apps on facebook very much, but like it for keeping in touch with people that I would otherwise have a hard time keeping in touch with, and those friends and family overseas.