20.
“My mother passed away. It was a long, drawn-out cancer battle that started during COVID. My parents are conservative Christians and heavily involved in their church, where there is little separation between doctrine, dogma, and politics. Being baby boomers, my parents and much of their church are heavy Facebook users. I started to scale back during COVID in general, as I couldn’t deal with all the conspiracies and politics and lack of common sense. But I stuck around because it was one way to help support my mom.”
“She was very sad at this time. I have two young children who she wasn’t able to spend much time with as they could’ve easily gotten her sick during chemo.
My mom would post constantly, updating her journey, to be met with outpourings of support and love from all her people.
When we came to the end and she was sent home for hospice, I spent weeks with her and my father, helping ease her last leg. The family decided to make a post asking for people to share their memories of my mom, and the posts became overwhelming. When she passed, her memorial service was so large that the church couldn’t accommodate everyone who attended. We had to turn people away; she was so beloved in her community.
Now, every time a post or memory shows up on FB, it just triggers me and brings back everything emotionally related to COVID and politics and her passing.
I just couldn’t do it anymore, and every time I poke my head back into FB, everything floods back in.”
—Ryan, 42
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