According to some graphs, Facebook's "crossover date"" (the date when the dead outnumber the living) will come sometime around 2065. By that date, people's favorite social network will gradually become a "Virtual Cemetery. " What is going to happen with dead people's profiles and how are they going to be managed? Should they be deactivated or should they give access to happy memories? This kind of profiles generates an enormous harm to the relatives of the passed away-s. They have to be deleted in order to let them pass through the catastrophe that happened to them.
In his article "Death On Facebook Now Common As ˜Dead Profiles' Create Vast Virtual Cemetery, " Jaweed Kaleem presents a new Facebook tendency to transform dead users' pages into memorial sites. The author begins the article by showing the example of Anthony Dowdell's profile. Even though he passed away, his page is still available and people keep on writing on his wall. At the same time, he compares it to another Facebook user's account, the Lalit Mendhe's one. His friend is against any activity on the dead's page, because he considers that people should respect one's privacy. Finally, Jaweed Kaleem admits that some positive sides exist, but he seems not to accept the idea of maintaining any relations with the dead people and their profiles. .
The status "online " of a dead person makes people who know what happened feel uncomfortable if not terrified. It is a permanent notification about the death. Maki Podell says about her passed away husband that "She looks at his Facebook wall about once a month. She reads through the messages friends leave for him. " It is painful to be always reminded that the person you loved is dead now. It is very important to pass through the fact that a person doesn't exist anymore, to leave it all behind and to continue living. It's very difficult, and sometimes even impossible, to do it when Facebook sends you notifications that tomorrow is his or her birthday.
