Livestreaming Funerals Gains Popularity

Credit: Christina Morillo

Americans are increasingly live-streaming funerals, bringing loved ones together in mourning. Today, many funeral homes and chapels will not only livestream a service, allowing guests to participate from a distance but will also post the content online. Many offer additional online services – such as photo slideshows, and the opportunity to share condolences or light a digital candle.

Livestreaming is essential to including faraway relatives. The technology has helped connect recent immigrants, families dealing with a sudden death and others with loved ones at a distance. Bryant Hightower, president-elect of the National Funeral Directors Association, told Wired that there’s been a recent explosion in the demand for livestreaming, with nearly 20 percent of U.S. funeral homes now offering the service. Families can typically choose a password-protected option that limits viewing to invited guests. Or, if they prefer, they can choose to make the livestream public.

Funeral homes are partly trending toward online services as a way to offset the decline in traditional burials. A recent NFDA report found that cremation outpaced burials for the first time in 2015, with 47.9 percent choosing cremation. By 2040, that number is projected to reach 78.7 percent.

Livestreaming Funerals Impacts Families

Credit: Michael Morse

While livestreaming funerals is convenient, it also raises ethical questions. How does one dress for an online funeral? Should children be permitted to eat while watching? How does one preserve the sacredness of the event and ensure emotional attunement? Evan Selinger, an assistant professor of philosophy at the Rochester Institute of Technology, has addressed some of these questions in a Huffington Post story about his grandfather’s online funeral.

Many grieving family members find it helpful to view the funeral again, after the fact – even if they were able to attend in person. Natalie Levy, who lost her mother to suicide, told Wired that she’s repeatedly watched the recording online. “One of the only things that every day reminds you of how great she was in such an awful time,” Levy said, “is people’s memories and you sharing those memories with each other.”