thanatechnology
nounEtymology From thana(to)- + technology.
1
Uncommon Communication technology that can be used for death education, grief counseling, and thanatology research.
- Thanatechnology helps survivor(s) gain a sense of control in an experience that feels powerless (Moyer and Enck 89) and mitigates the potential of “second loss” (Bassett). Yet, while thanatechnology creates a curated digital afterlife that is relatively sustainable and can offer comfort to the bereaved, Debra Basset notes, “just as we are biologically mortal so we are digitally mortal: loss or deletion of data and the risk of contagion is a real threat to digital immortality, as digital erasure is a possibility.”2022, Alyson R. Buckman, Juliette C. Kitchens, Katherine A. Troyer, Slaying Is Hell: Essays on Trauma and Memory in the Whedonverse, McFarland, →ISBN, page 74:
- Related terms
- thanatology, grief technology