HUFFINGTON
01.20.13
THE VIRTUAL CEMETERY
removed, delete her words on his
page or ask for a slimmed-down
version of it to become a memorial. The stages of grief wouldn’t
explain why one would hold on
to the account of a dead person,
writing messages on it and checking for updates as if that person
had never gone away. Or is Facebook the new phase of denial?
“Historically, clinicians may
have looked at a Facebook wall
and seen these people who are
writing to the deceased as having
not gotten over their attachment
to the dead. They would say that
by not letting go of that person
they are not accepting the loss,”
says Brubaker. “But more recently,
there’s been this idea of ‘continuing bonds’ that takes strong issue
with the