I was listening to net@nite episode 2 with Amber MacArthur and Leo Laporte on my way to work last week. They were discussing a new service, MyFinalParty.com, a website that helps you to plan “not only your funeral but also everything else”. Then a website called MyDeadSpace.com, a tribute site for all those who have died on MySpace. It started from around 13m35s and continued to around 20m into the show.
Amber: “I think the Internet generation and people online as being like full of life and energy and all of sudden you see this ‘dark side’…
Leo: “If you think about it, it just shows how young the net is really… death is part of life, and of course everywhere else you have this going on…”
True. It’s sad, and it’s depressed. You hang around on the Internet, read a few blogs here and there, subscribe to a few RSS feeds, and have “friends” you never met on all popular social networks. Everything looks so refreshing — at yet so deceiving. The very fact of death is there, but most people avoid thinking about it just like what we do in our real lives.
Someone on your Bloglines or Google Readers that has somehow stopped posting anymore? What about that guy on Friendster that you have never heard again since last July? Are they still around? Are they still alive?
I have actually seen quite a few “death notices” in some of the development blogs that I have subscribed to. Of course it is not the dead person posting, but somehow one of the team mates discovered the accident that killed that developer a few days later, and then posted about it. It’s always shocking reading your daily development news and then suddenly an item like this hits you in the face. What about all these open source projects where there’s no team mates checking up on each other? They just cease to update?
Death is there, and is still part of our lives. No, Web 2.0 did not cure it.
I guess that’s why services like MyFinalParty.com will be popular. Since death is inevitable, then might as well organise a big bash for your family and friends, although you won’t be able to attend it yourself. Nevertheless, they have promised that “you will not be disappointed”.
Yeah right. Death itself is the biggest disappointment in life. It’s wages of sin, it’s judgement of God, and the only cure is Jesus, through trusting his work of salvation.
Maybe death should be more talked about on the net.
(btw, don’t be too alarmed if I has failed to post something for a week)
People doesn’t like talking about death & dying,
the topic makes them uncomfortable
one of the reason is because they do not know where they’re going “after death” … it freaks them out. There are times where I can see it through patient’s eyes…
This world is in denial…
No definitely not. I believe that you have seen them all working in the hospital.
The irony is, death still exists amongst the youthful net-generation. Good looking young boy or girl might be blogging online one day, and the next day they might be in his/her own funeral — it’s a picture that we don’t often see when we surf between sites on the net everyday.
Sadly around 4 billion people who are born today will go to hell.
I was browsing when I ran across your site, and the mention of ours. There’s a lot of guessing about us and our services. I invite any of you curious about us to come and ask for more information. We have one basic credo: “Celebrate Your Life!”, which is something lost in most societies today.
Our original launch date was scheduled for November 23rd, ’06, but was delayed due to response to our concept. We’ve made so many changes in our offerings, we have to do our launch piece-meal. This is a good thing!
Anyway, you can fill out the form at http://www.MyFinalParty.com or e-mail me personally. It may take a day or two to get back to you, but I will, I promise!
Have a great day, and remember to tell someone you love them.
Do it now…
Ron Hatton
C.O.O., MyFinalParty.com