Why Did Steve Job's Death Affect People Who Never Knew Him?

Published on: 12th Jul 2012

­The profound sense of loss and public mourning that followed the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was a reflection of how great an impact he had on society and on the lives of individuals through the technology he helped to create. The magnitude and reasons for the outpouring of emotion upon his death by people who did not know him personally are explored in an article in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, a peer-reviewed journal.

The findings from three studies conducted in the weeks after Jobs' death indicated demographic variability in mourning across the general population, suggesting that many people were more deeply affected by his passing. Latter studies highlighted the motivational factors that are related to the use of the Apple devices which were at play in shaping feelings of sadness and loss.

"Steve Jobs touched so many people because he dared to be different, he was unconventional, he was brilliant, and that, combined with his uncompromising nature, resulted in a company whose products had no peer," says Mary Ann Liebert, CEO and Publisher. "Very few of us know anyone like that personally, and when he died, a hero and a magician was gone."

Reflections published by captains of the industry, such as Bill Gates, Sergey Brin, Larry Page, and Mark Zuckerberg, highlighted the influence that Jobs had on digital technology and society more broadly. More tellingly, millions of others who had not known him personally shared feelings of loss through email messages, blogs, Twitter, and Facebook, and created makeshift memorials at Apple stores.

The report reviews three studies that explore people's emotional connections to technology and even to a particular device and how that relationship may extend beyond the technology to feelings of personal connectedness and loss when the relationship ends.

Andrew Przybylski, University of Essex, Colchester, U.K., compares and discusses the findings of studies conducted during the weeks following Steve Jobs' death in October 2011. The studies evaluated the types of people most likely to be emotionally impacted and how their psychological link to Apple devices relates to their sadness and overall response to Jobs' passing.

The article is available at the Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking website.

 

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