In the digital age, death isn't just absence: it's watching someone leave the family group chat and knowing they won't read the next message. amirite?

+42 In the digital age, death isn't just absence: it's watching someone leave the family group chat and knowing they won't read the next message. amirite?

by Anonymous 1 month ago

well, that describes... absence

by LongjumpingYam4649 1 month ago

And family gatherings for the last forever

by Jammie24 1 month ago

I got sober with a friend who I ended up teaching chess too. We were playing a game via chess.com with one day increments. We never finished that game.

by swaniawskimatt 1 month ago

Record those on something else so you can keep them. I still have my dad's voicemails on my phone and he died 7 years ago but I also have them saved somewhere else.

by Anonymous 1 month ago

Yeah it's the first thing I did when I got home. It's truly wonderful hearing her voice, just her sounding totally normal and loving. Such a gift.

by Anonymous 1 month ago

So nice. I'm glad I have them but I never listen to mine. It makes me cry.

by Anonymous 1 month ago

Yeah same. It's very bittersweet.

by Anonymous 1 month ago

My mom passed away years ago. A couple years after her death, her social media accounts were hacked. I felt her death all over again. In the digital age, I could go to her Facebook page much like I'd visit her grave. Since that hacker took her account, I felt like that was stolen from me. It's a different type of difficult.

by Anonymous 1 month ago

After my sister passed away 18 months ago, my BIL hired an au pair to care for their 2 young children … he gave my sister's phone to the au pair to use. I guess I can see the economy/ logistics of it, all the important numbers already stored, not having to change the kids' contact info at school etc. But I didn't know he'd done this - so the first time she texted me, it came up on my phone as a text from my sister, and it absolutely gutted me. And then I had to change the contact info for that number. It felt like deleting my best friend.

by Fun-Egg5913 1 month ago

Wasn't there a Black Mirror episode about this?

by Academic_Chicken 1 month ago

Maybe? It reminds me of Her at least

by schambergerbern 1 month ago

Who's she

by Kuhlmansofia 1 month ago

I would hate this. With a passion

by Anonymous 1 month ago

Huh...I didn't realize that family group chats were a thing people actually did.

by Global_Quiet 1 month ago

this one should have stayed in the drafts ngl

by angeline18 1 month ago

And only fairly recently we started to realize that this has been happening since the internet was created

by Anonymous 1 month ago

Makes me wonder what OP thinks "absence" means

by Alternative_Power 1 month ago

If the digital age is circa 2009, your loved ones will answer your phone call then quickly tell you to call them back after 7pm when the call doesn't affect their monthly minutes…..

by Anonymous 1 month ago

That's a poignant observation—digital traces make absence feel even more tangible.

by Anonymous 1 month ago