Grief in the Digital Age: Examining How Digital Tools Influence Grief and Coping with Loss
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Date
2023-05
Department
University of Baltimore. Division of Science, Information Arts and Technologies
Program
University of Baltimore. Master of Science in Interaction Design and Information Architecture
Citation of Original Publication
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This item may be protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. It is made available by The University of Baltimore for non-commercial research and educational purposes.
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Abstract
This study aims to understand and explore grieving individuals and how technology is
impacting their grief journey. The goal of this study is to understand existing research
around grief and how digital tools like websites and mobile apps have been utilized by
the bereaved. The literature review of this paper uncovered three common categories of
digital grief tools which can be summarized as memorialization social connection and
online grief support. While most previous research focused on each category
individually, no research has been done comparing these categories with the same user
group, nor has any other research examined the use of these tools during a diary study.
This study also explores users’ preferences among these categories within the context of
a digital platform.
For this study, I will recruit participants who have experienced loss in the last two
years and have them actively engage with a digital platform over the course of a 10-day
diary study. Two platforms, the HealGrief website and the Actively Moving Forward
mobile app, were selected because these platforms offer digital grief tools for
memorialization, online grief support groups and social connection. Over the course of a
10-day diary study with 8 participants, data was gathered about how social connection,
memorialization and online support influenced the participant’s grief and how
participants viewed these tools in relation to their needs. Through participants’ responses,
many usability concerns were noted that should be addressed by the HCI community to
help guide future tools and features that can continue building on this sensitive subject
matter to make digital grief tools more accessible to those coping with loss.