Funerals Online

I wonder if this is just a sign of the times, or the wave of the future? There’s an interesting story on Fox News online about folks attending funerals online. I wonder what folks think about this? Do you think that this is a convenient way to attend a funeral and save some of the travel expenses, or do you think that it’s not as personal as you’d like it to be?

I don’t really like it. It seems so impersonal and cold. I think one of the main reasons to attend a funeral, assuming that you are not a close friend or family member of the deceased, is to show support for the living family members. You can’t do that by attending online. I think I’d be bothered if someone didn’t care enough to come in person and just wanted to watch it online.

I agree with you Holly.  I think the whole idea of funerals is for the deceased’s friends and family to be together.  That way they can pay tribute to their loved ones life and give support to each other.  In fact, it is one way to get closure and say goodbye.  How do you do that online?

I don’t like it either, but then again, people do all sorts of virtual parties these days, so why not a funeral?

Personally, I would never attend a funeral online. Online memorials where families and friends gather in a chat room to talk about a loved one who has died is fine but not this..

Hi Everyone, Yeah, this really is something! I’m kind of on the fence about it. I mean, in a way, it’s good if it helps people connect and saves money (imagine not being able to attend the funeral of a loved one because you don’t have the funds); plus soldiers watch weddings and stuff online when they are stationed elsewhere, so that’s kind of good.

On the other hand though, I can’t imagine watching a funeral online the way that I now watch press conferences- it does seem to be in bad taste. Plus, I wonder if you’d feel like some kind of voyeur or something?

A woman recently gave birth live online over the weekend, so we shouldn’t be too surprised by this, I guess. I’m not really a fan of that either. From a practical standpoint with regard to the funeral online, my computer is too slow and probably couldn’t keep up. I just wouldn’t feel right about sitting at home and watching online.

Hi Holly, I had seen that story about giving birth online- how weird! I mean, of course, to each his own, but still…that is definitely not something I ever plan on doing, lol.

The whole concept of funerals online seems super macabre, but I guess it’s the way of the future. I can’t imagine how far this will in the future as well; I wonder if this will soon become just an everyday practice? I wonder how will that impact the way we view death in general? Do you think it will?

I feel like, which the exception of famous people, if the deceased was close enough to me that I’d want to watch the funeral online, then they were close enough for me to attend the funeral. It is nice when memorial services for someone like Michael Jackson are broadcasted since so many people were affected by him, but for the average family member or friend, I think the actual funeral should stay private.

Although I agree that funerals online can seem very impersonal, I think there may some advantages for those who are family members living in another state, and are not able to travel to the funeral location. Most already take a video and send it to the family that was unable to make the funeral service. Having a funeral online can mean that they are able to attend the funeral real time even though it is online.

Perhaps this is the way of the future for the web. Perhaps it is only a matter of time before people start to embrace this as we have with other virtual groups and social networking online.