Internet Discretion on the Decline

I recently saw a Facebook status that reported the death of this person's former classmate. The person writing the status publicly announced the way in which the person died, then continued to repeat the cause of death at least twice more in the same thread. When I saw this, a deep anger and pain arose in me that I have come to know all too well in the past few months.
In the age of rampant information sharing, we as a people have become desensitized to what is appropriate to share publicly and what is better left between only those that it directly affects. My husband and I have decided to be rather private, only sharing certain things about our lives. Beyond that we have also decided that in the case of our future children we will also be discrete in what we share; they will deserve their right to privacy as much as we do. Some people choose to post every detail about their's and their childrens' lives...there is certainly no crime in that, but I would say it ends up being a slippery slope. Once information is out there, it's out there for good; this means that little Tommy's potty training mishaps will be around for his great great grandchildrent to see.
To the rational adult, it is obvious that discretion is a must when sharing life's little details with the general public. But what about sharing death's little details... Like the person who posted about someone else's cause of death, they probably had no plans to harm the dead person, obviously they are already dead so this would be hard to do. But what about the people who loved this person and are still around to see their loved one's death blasted across the Facebook pages of strangers? This particular person did not die in the most valiant of fashions, but they did die; plain and simple, the people who loved this person probably don't care so much how their loved one died but that they are no longer with them. What's more, is if someone dies in a manner that might bring shame to someone, why not show respect for the dead and those still living and acknowledge the loss without adding insult to injury?
Having lost my sister recently, it disgusted me to see so many people posting on the internet for all to see their discussions and debates about her death. People were hypothesizing how she died...was she drunk, was she wearing her seatbelt, or the big one "I bet she was texting". I know what happened according to the Sheriff's Department, and those who need to know what happened do know. How on earth is it appropriate to debate something like this, especially something so fresh in the hearts of those who are grieving? She is dead and so is this person who became Facebook news, and to those who loved those who are now gone, that is painful enough without knowing that your loved one is a stranger's gossip. In the case of my sister, she left behind a beautiful little girl. This little girl will someday be a young adult capable of researching on the internet. I cannot imagine what it would be like for her to scroll through pages and pages of hearsay and heartless gossip surrounding her mom's death.
These people who pass away are not people who asked to be in the limelight. My sister was not an actress, politician or any other public figure whose personal business becomes by default the world's business. She was an ordinary girl with her right to privacy and just because she no longer lives does not mean her right to privacy should be trounced upon by those who hardly knew her, if at all. The same goes for this other person whose cause of death was more of a curiousity than a tragedy to this callous Facebooker. The gut wrenching pain that comes with burying a loved one should be shown the utmost respect. Unfortunately with all of the media sharing resources available today, so many people have begun to think it is their right to delve into matters that do not concern them. It is absolutely nobody's right or privilege to destroy the memory of someone else's loved one.
My Uncle Hart used to say "it's a full time job taking care of Caroline (or insert anyone else's name)." There is a lot of wisdom in that. As humans it is a natural and good thing to feel for someone else's pain, acknowledging it and giving it the respect that it should be given. It is when we begin to think it is our job to announce, intervene or disrupt someone else's situation in life (or death) that we cross the line. If this original Facebooker had genuince concern over the death of someone, he or she could have expressed their heart felt sympathy directly to the family rather than taking it upon his or herself to make even more public a sensitive issue.
While nobody can stop people from sharing every embarassing detail of their own life, it should be an unspoken rule that other people's lives are off limits. If you have the urge to share some juicy tidbit that is not your's to share, you should stop a moment and consider using some tact; unless of course you don't mind being labeled a gossip queen that nobody trusts.