A favorite on twitter can symbolize more than just a notification.
In modern day society, texting and social media has skyrocketed us into a world of communication never once thought of. If you ever need to reach someone, they are merely a push of a button away. From mass global news to personal stories, our feed, blog, captions and likes keep us in the loop of the day to day situations we face as human beings. Grief is a pivotal part in each of our lives that we constantly are forced to face and has no match for the ever-growing social media culture.
Before hashtags and favorites were introduced as a newly developed form of contact and news, television and radio were the primary go to when something tragic occurred. The news would plaster it all over their stations and people would shoot a call to a family member, spreading the word. Nowadays it is effortless to bring a unit of people together in support of a traumatic event, whether it be right in your backyard or across the world. An example that is commonly shown throughout social media is the hashtag. When the controversial shooting of the gay nightclub, Pulse, in Orlando happened, several friends and family were deeply affected by those who died and were wounded.
Social media provides a personalized outlet for people to express their concern for those families, friends, and victims. One of the hashtags were “#prayfororlando” and from just those few strokes across the keyboard, a sense of unity and general caring was displayed through the thousands of people posting this hashtag on all sites of social media like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat. Because we can post anything at the blink of an eye, this epidemic was spread worldwide within minutes, all the information sitting at the fingertips of millions. Social media provides a chance for people to heal collectively. If the situation is personal then it creates a backbone of support and if you are a supporter then it creates an opportunity to just be a helping hand.
A lot the stories and pictures that go hand in hand with these hashtags, especially regarding Orlando, contain words of love and an emotional reach out to those who were affected by the event. It is amazing what just one simple post can start, an uproar of awareness and social grieving for something that didn’t even have anything to do with the majority of us directly, but as a developing technological social community, we are able to collectively rise as one online when we see the pain and suffering of others because we can all identify with that kind of hurting. The numbers presented within these posts and retweets just show how much thought is put into giving condolences and reassurance to those going through these tough times. These massive postings are extremely effective in showcasing people’s opinions and comforting strategies in a distant yet very personal way. We never know how our words impact those reading them, even if our postings are general, they can provide solace for someone who might be trying to go through healing. Social media turns itself into a kumbaya session when crisis shows up.
Social media grieving, or aid to grieving, doesn’t have to be a huge ordeal all the time. There are several situations where there is a death in the family, a job is lost, or things are rough financially. Grief has a wide range of events that it can apply to. Because situations like those are a bit more personal, it is ideal that approaches such as home visits or phone calls be there in the grieving process, but social media has proven to be still a successful tool during rough times. Day to day is always a hustle and bustle so it is understandable when we are not able to always stop by a friend’s house, or spend three hours on the phone. That’s where our handy dandy smartphones or tablets come into play because we can just pick up our device and send a quick motivational message or tag them in a post that holds information that could possibly help the situation. Out of personal experience, just sending cute or funny emojis, pictures, videos or sayings to someone can put an instant smile on their face.
