Loss: Social Space & The Avenue For Empathy
Social media has become the only way to directly predict or speculate the wellbeing of the people we know, in most cases, it has become the only way to reduce the barrier of geographical location, while still creating the illusion of a closer connection.
For example, WhatsApp is one social app that people mostly use to predict the well-being of others and permutate the progress or outcome of their lives, especially when it's difficult to do so in real life.
The way people sparsely or constantly uses WhatsApp can generally tell of their well-being, and most times studying these pattern helps in creating awareness.
I'm an ardent WhatsApp user. Before the sad passing of my brother, I mostly used it as an avenue to talk about business, vlog, motivation, or daily updates on crypto but in close to two months I haven't done this.
Before the current events, I was cumbered by life responsibilities and stayed away from the app to fix my life, but when my brother passed, I completely abandoned the app.
A few people who noticed this pattern checked up on me, and this was when I told them about the sad occurrence.
I know this lady who uses the app to market her food business, For two months I never saw her WhatsApp update and I began to fear, what elevated my fear was the picture of a candle I saw on her WhatsApp display picture.
I began calling everyone who knew her, but I couldn't get an update, I prayed silently as the days passed and one day, I got a double blue tick on the WhatsApp message I sent her, this was when she narrated how she was attacked by robbers and her belongings stolen.
Her belongings were vanity as only her life mattered to me
I get skeptical when I notice the absence of someone who is a regular user of whatever social platform. The reason is that life is a hard place, unexpected occurrences happen and for weeks or months, nobody might know.
For example, my brother's passing was a tragic one, I mostly stopped my activities on all social apps. The world has become difficult to live in and sometimes these difficult wins and people lose.
Some people are severely depressed and sometimes they take solace in social apps to vent, hoping to heal. "The busy-ness" of life has turned a lot of people into daylight hypocrites and that is why we see people only caring about someone when they're no longer alive.
This is because death is the only thing a lot of people take seriously.
They ignore the serious health condition of others, ignore them when they're seeking either a loan to boost their business or ignore them when they're positing suicidal content or thoughts.
The only time people are jolted into action is when the reality of permanent loss hits. So it feels like the only time people show compassion is when a situation is impossible to salvage, and the most excusable thing is justifying it with the "busy-ness" of life.
Although almost everyone is guilty of this
I feel that the only time the mentality changes is when people experience pain on a personal level. The internet has created avenues for people to either underestimate or overestimate human experiences, occurrences, and phenomena.
However, I feel that loss or pain is a feeling that every human will inevitably experience, the only harshness is when we experience them when the time is not ripe. However, it's important for us to truly understand what others are feeling because when we look at it from our own angle, it might be difficult to show empathy and compassion to others or judge them for being too weak.
Interested in some more of my works
Is it Easy To Make Money?
Nigeria: A Unique Business Market & Industry
Virtual Bank Apps In Nigeria: An Experience Of Gamification
How To Find The Next "BIG" Meme Coin
Personal Finance: Achieving Intentional "Saving" Goals
Playing The Survival Game: Human Nature In Introspection
"Un-PAYING" The Debt You Owe
To show empathy takes a lot of emotional maturity.
This isn't a lie.
Yeah, really challenging. One must be willing to go out of his/her world to see things from the eyes of others.
I'm deeply sorry to hear about your brother's passing and the tough times you’ve been going through.
Thank you, the days have been dreary. Staying sane and healing is my priority now.
You're right and this is why it is good to always check up on others. We should not be self centered or using the fact that we are busy as an everyday excuse
Yes, but at the same time, we... People will still use life commitments as enough excuse
So true, in the end empathy and kindness is all that matters. It is important we know this and treat people with care. Checking up on our love ones can go a long way in their lives.
Empathy and kindness, yes. Thanks for making emphasis
You are welcome
I do agree that we will all feel that loss and painful emotions sometimes in life.
Truly, social media has paved a way into checking into people's life without actually checking up on them. We don't know what anyone is passing through unless we get closer to them and listen.
Yes, social apps helps a lot, but sometimes, we fail to know what people are passing through, especially when they're not talking about it, or they're not even available enough to show up.
That's right. Physical connection matters.
My sincere condolences to you and your family. I’m so sorry about your loss.
I pray you’re able to go through this phase and come out stronger.
Thank you for your well wishes, Amen!
You're welcome
It sucks to hear about tragedy. Whether it be your brother passing or the woman being robbed. I think to an extent, people are set in a daily pattern and most people don't change it. When something changes and they notice, they will be somewhat concerned. The problem is that most people don't pay attention and I think you checking up on that woman was a good thing.
This is why I have a consistent pattern. Although not a lot of people care or know. It's only those who actually care that would notice if anything was wrong. I'd probably rather be robbed than lose a life. However yeah, a tragedy is a tragedy
Some true facts dear Jose. Everyone was too busy to see each other's pain but when the worst happens, everyone has the time to mourn and stay attended. We want to be successful so much that we even forget success isn't just rising alone, but having loved and dear ones with us.
The end of the month has been about an artist who died. Well, I really didn't know him before but the trend was too much that I had to look into the matter. I kept seeing a lot of clamor for his justice. Hmm…...but does it have to be now?
The Artist and the woman that was rubbed are just few that we see. Yes! In our day to day life we have people like these, that we care less about.
Spreading love and checking up on beautiful people is very important.
Congratulations @josediccus! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain And have been rewarded with New badge(s)
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPCheck out our last posts:
Whenever someone so close to you dies and passes away from this world, it is very sad. I can understand your pain that when someone passes away, one spends a few days in his memories and remembers the moments he spent with him.