Why are old people so obsessed with reading obituaries?

[Anonymous]

I was over at my parents and noticed they were reading obituaries online. apparently there is a site where you can find "local " obituaries. there not even reading ones for people they knew , just random people who passed away?

is this normal? I know obituaries have been popular in newspapers for some time but to read ones online for people you didn't even know? starts to seem a bit off or is it just me?

[NearlyNapping]

Because they probably have several people they know die each year. That's a part of getting old. A lot of people you know start dying. If you live long enough, just about everyone you've known in your life will die. It's like musical chairs, wondering if you'll be the last one.

Very likely they read obits of people they don't know just because they are already there reading them. I think there is also a weird morbid fascination with it. They know their own time is coming, and they're seeing all the different ways it can happen. In general, death becomes a bigger part of their life. Reading the obits is part of a larger picture.

[Anonymous]

we got my grandmother a tablet for Christmas, something went wrong with it so she gave it to me to fix. after i did i had a look at the search history to see if i could figure out how it broke but all she'd searched was facebook and obituaries xD old people are weird

[Anonymous]

Cuz when you reach a certain age, sadly it's people you know

[torken]

Maybe they're on the look-out for people they knew, so they can go to their funerals. Its not like older folks are very present online.

Or maybe they want to know whats killing people their age, so they can stay healthy

[Asker]

a lot seem to be completely random people , we live in a retirement area , lots of older people have moved here to retire and some of them obviously pass away. I'm sure they've seen some for people they know but most seem entirely random

[daremetwo]

Silly they want to see if they made the news.