Since the emergence of social media, traditional methods of processing grief and loss have changed. There is evidence that more and more individuals are turning to social media as a way to grieve. Particularly, emerging adults, find social media grieving useful as they are experiencing these obstacles for the first time. Bereavement is becoming a normal part of everyday life and young people experience some sort of loss of a close friend or family member due to death by the time they reach 18 years of age. Similarly, with the prevalence and popularity of social media in emerging adults’ lives, the discovery of a death in a person’s social network has increased.
A new phenomenon is the relationship between grief and social media. There has been evidence suggesting that emerging adults use social media as a way to grieve a loss. Not only is this a new medium for potential social work practice but it also expands the grieving experience. It provides a space for those that are not comfortable being vulnerable in front of other people and an opportunity for those that are
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It is becoming a more widely accepted form of grieving. People are turning to the internet and social media more these days as way of grieving and communicating their grieving. The internet is used to share practical information like funeral or memorial service details, news related to death and families of the deceased use it to communicate with others. Emerging adults prefer to use social media because they prefer to share information about the deceased in online environments in order to demonstrate that they cared about the individuals as opposed to simply gaining a sense of closure. Furthermore, as using social media or other online avenues has become socially accepted, subjects were more comfortable with online grieving and did not want to change their grieving