”This is the First Day Without You”: Mourning Animals through the Affordances of Instagram

Authors

• Camilla Tumidei University of Turin

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.57124/thanatos.162471

Keywords:

animal loss, mourning animals, affordances, instagram

Abstract

Over the past three decades, the Internet has been a safe space to navigate the difficult experience of losing a companion animal. However, the rise of digital platforms signifies a major shift from earlier online groups and websites that helped legitimize what is still seen as disenfranchised grief. In this context, animals become part of various networks at the intersection of the attention economy, entertainment, and neoliberalism. This article examines how Instagram mediates mourning practices for companion animals, with a focus on how the platform’s affordances influence the expression of grief. Through an autoethnographic engagement with the Instagram profile of a small Italian business owner mourning her cat, the study explores how mourning unfolds at the intersection of personal experience and digital infrastructure. It highlights how relationships with companion animals become closely tied to conflicting media logics that commodify the emotional and social interactions they are intended to foster.