Between hope and harm: Digital coping during the anticipatory phase of violent loss

Violent loss poses profound psychological challenges when families endure uncertainty before death is confirmed. This study extends coping theory into the digital realm by examining how coping unfolds through online networks during the anticipatory phase of bereavement following the Nova Festival massacre in Israel. Grounded in a social constructionist approach, in-depth interviews with bereaved family members, partners, and friends explored digital coping during the two weeks of uncertainty after the attack. Findings reveal a complex matrix of individual and collective digital coping strategies varying in adaptive and maladaptive valence. While platforms like WhatsApp facilitated networked coordination and instrumental information-seeking, they also intensified maladaptive responses, including misinformation reactivity, compulsive behaviors, and secondary trauma through protective monitoring. The analysis identifies a digital coping paradox: strategies viewed as proactive become psychologically harmful under conditions of radical uncertainty and limited agency. Findings call for refining coping theory to address digital ambivalence in violent bereavement.