“The deadening of discourse is one of the social network’s essential endowments. I recently stumbled upon a superficially innocuous posting on my Facebook page. A former work colleague had uploaded an image of a Yahrzeitcandle in memory of the six members of a single family who were killed a couple of months ago in a freak electrical fire accident that engulfed their home in Rechovot.

Six beating hearts permanently stopped. Six destinies cut short. Countless friends and relatives left in a state of shock, horror and deepest, darkest mourning. This young Israeli family, with its future snuffed out and dreams left unfulfilled, deserves a more sincere, heartfelt expression of condolences than a grainy 7.97 cm x 11.29 cm picture on a social media network.

Please note that inane Facebook postings do not discriminate based on manner of death. Another recent e-blast that singed my sense of good form alerted the world as to the passing of a 99-year-old mother-in-law. If the Gettysburg Address is the most moving eulogy crafted by man, what’s a hastily composed Facebook blurb supposed to say about the depth of loss felt by the person posting?”

Click here to read the entire piece as it appears in the Times of Israel: http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/unfriend-facebook-the-case-for-liking-less/