“The New York Times sent out an alert; NPR did the same. His death trended on Twitter.”

In an era where the breaking news media apparatus is a formidable well-oiled machine, what happens when the subject of all those instant notifications, alerts and tweets is the most tragic and personal thing to ever happen to you?

That’s the terrifying reality that Erin Lee Carr (yep, daughter of **the** David Carr) reveals in this excerpt from her memoir — Watching the Internet React to the Worst Night of My Life — and it’s as shattering as it is reproachful of digital media’s “necessary” instantaneity:

Couldn’t I have at least thirty seconds to comprehend what had happened before the internet chimed in?...The New York Times sent out an alert; NPR did the same. His death trended on Twitter. The floodgates opened. I was split down my center by hundreds of texts, emails, and voicemails. It was beyond intrusive, and forced me to dissociate. Every minute my phone buzzed, and I would look down to see if it was a call I needed to take. All of the people finding out my dad was dead from a notification on their phone.