By MAMAMIA ROGUE
This is not the first time social media has thrown us some curve balls when it comes to ethical etiquette issues.
Is it socially acceptable to use your phone at the dinner table? What about tweeting your relationship woes? Can you check your Facebook updates while you’re having sex? And it OK to play Candy Crush while you push you child on the swing set? (Answer: YES).
Well, today, we’ve got a new one for you: #Funeral
That’s right, social media aficionados are now tweeting, instagramming and pinning photos of themselves at funerals and hashtagging them as #funeral so you can easily peruse the #sad photos of people #mourning.
We present you these images without further comment.
All pics taken from public Instagram accounts via hashtagfuneral.tumbr
Funeral selfies. Sick, sweet or stupid?
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Top Comments
These photos are all of teens! Have you considered how threatening a funeral is for a young person when it is often one of their first real encounters with death and dying? One of the ways that makes it less scary is to try and maintain some normalcy. Yes it might be seen as inappropriate and yes it might actually be inappropriate but I believe that what all these kids are really trying to do is to hold onto something that will make this experience less weird and less confronting.
Rather than shaming these kids perhaps supporting them and gently giving them to think about how their actions might be perceived is a lot more productive.
Have a think about how you felt when you first had to deal with death and dying as a young person. I will admit that upon being told that one of the gentleman at the nursing home where my Mum works had died I actually burst out laughing. Imagine how mortified and terrible I felt. As it turns out, this is a common reaction to extremely distressing news like this and definitely not a reflection of my true feelings.
When will people start to realise that everyone grieves differently and that there are no real right or wrong ways to do it? It is extremely unfair to expect teens and young adults to deal with death in certain ways just because that is what society expects.
Oh good grief, it's like a funeral is just another fun day out. Ordinarily I'd just roll my eyes at the actions of drama-queen teens, but in this case, it seems just a tad disrespectful of the deceased and those closest to him/her.