The Google stage of grief (from: Julie Leung: Seedlings & Sprouts)
http://www.julieleung.com/archives/001758.html | Comments
Laura at 11D wrote:
After the morning with the neurologist, Steve and I googled disorders and disabilities until late at night. This maniacal googling is a new stage of grief. After denial and before resignation, comes the google stage.
Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross described five stages of grief:
- Denial
- Anger
- Bargaining
- Depression
- Acceptance
Googling is indeed a new stage of grief. I’ve done it myself. I’ve sat at the computer, typing terms, moving the mouse, clicking, reading, calculating, crying. Have you?
danah boyd wrote Google is the perfect tool for the intermittent hypochondriac. The weight of a diagnosis or a death can create a compulsion to try to understand, to seek in the sea of Google knowledge for answers and explanations. Try a term, try another term, yet a third all to see what comes up in the net. Ask Jeeves. From my own experience, what I read on the Internet can help or hurt my situation, throw me on an unnecessary roller-coaster ride or confirm my fears.
So Googling may be added to the grief stages. How about blogging? Emailing? Done that too.
How will our relationships on the Internet, with each other and with information alter the way we grieve?