Grief in the Age of Facebook

In "Grief in the Age of Facebook, Stone notes that her students "almost never make phone calls if they can help it, so Kelsey's message alone should have raised my antenna. She blogs, she tweets, she texts, and she pings. but voice mail? No."

1. How do you communicate with friends and family when the topic is important? Do you use synchronous, or "live" means of communication, i.e. face-to-face, or by telephone? Or do you use asynchronous, or one-sided means of communication, such as Facebook, texting, blogs or e-mails?

2. Stone also highlights the act of replacing Facebook profile photos with those that include the person who died. She notes that we are uncertain as how long these memorial photos are to be posted. What is the correct amount of time to mourn someone electronically?

3. What is your opinion of Facebook's policy of memorial pages for friends and family that are deceased? Do these pages serve a purpose other than informing the world of the person's death? Do you agree with this electronic (and public) display of grief?

Growing Old in the Digital Age: An Exercise in Egotism

1. Baughman writes that we do not remember the purpose of wishing someone a happy birthday, the emotional connections we make with each other. He notes that we are "missing the point if the first thing we look forward to on our birthday is an over-flowing inbox." Do you agree with his opinion?

2. Do you agree with Baughman's description of a phone call as "antique"? He describes text messages as allowing us to be "sovereign in our own word, while still acheieving a degree of connection with someone else." Do you think his assessment is accurate?

3. Did anyone else laugh at the first sentence of the article? Or was it just me?

We Shall Overshare

Have you ever read a post, on Facebook or a similar site, that a friend or family member published, and your response was, "Ouch!"

Ham notes in her article, "We shall Overshare," that her "online life is a balancing act." How do you interact on sites like Facebook or Twitter? Do you only post certain information?

Here are several sites that broadcast the poor decision-making skills of some people who think Facebook and other sites are places to share too much information, or "overshare" as Ham describes it.

http://runt-of-the-web.com/nine-hilariously-awkward-facebook-interactions

http://unrealitymag.com/index.php/2009/09/11/10-of-the-most-awkward-moments-in-facebook-history/

http://awkwardmessages.com/