I’m Namika, a 30-year-old, and I’ve been married for about two years. I don’t have any children yet. My family home is about a three-hour drive away, where my mother lives alone. I’m one of three siblings; my older sister (Misato, 34) and her family live in my neighborhood, and my younger brother (Ren, 28, single) had been living alone in the next prefecture. However, my brother recently passed away suddenly in a traffic accident. While our family is grieving this profound loss, my mother took his smartphone without permission and insists on going through his photos. The more my sister and I try to talk her out of it, the more stubborn she becomes. We’ve both finally reached the point where we’ve decided to stop trying to stop her.
I can’t help but feel so sorry for my brother, knowing that now that he’s gone, not only his photos but even his private LINE and social media messages are being exposed.
I know I can’t even imagine the pain of a mother losing her beloved son, but I’m honestly baffled by how she seems determined to completely strip away his privacy.
It’s also mind-boggling to me that despite everything my sister and I have said, she hasn’t even once considered that maybe, for her son’s sake, she should just leave his phone alone.
Is it truly impossible for her to understand that even family members deserve their privacy?