The Future is Digital
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For centuries, humans have been obsessed with solving the problem that is mortality, even dreaming up mythical creatures like vampires and zombies that are based on the idea of living forever. The once elusive immortality is very much a reality in today’s world except in a digital form. What are you leaving behind from your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any other type of online account when you are gone? We now have a digital afterlife that very few people think about, but as unfortunate as the topic is, we have to determine what we want to do with it.
What happens to your online accounts after you die? What are your options? You cannot delete accounts when you have already passed away, so what can you do then? The social media giant, Facebook, has come up with a solution for it’s over 100 million active users. It now offers the option of memorializing an account. In order to memorialize someone’s account, the profile must be reported directly to Facebook. This setting then makes it impossible for any one else to log into that deceased person’s account. In addition, Facebook allows beneficiaries to be appointed through your account settings. Google has also made strides in creating Inactive Account Manager where users can set a trustee who will have the ability to obtain your data or content if the account hasn’t been active in awhile.
Justdelete.me is a website that lists the level of difficulty to delete an account. Here are some of those websites.
Say for instance that someone has never thought of this before, like my friend from high school that passed away shortly after graduation of a sudden illness. She had Facebook and left this world before she could even make these decisions. I see her birthday notification every year and for me personally, it makes me happy to see her face, but for others, the experience isn’t as such. It’s then that I ask myself, what do I want to leave behind? What are we going to leave behind if one day we pass unexpectedly? The digital world is never-ending, if it’s not deleted, then it is there for eternity.
We sometimes watch futuristic movies with the thought that we’ll never live to see some of the crazy things that are invented. When I saw what eterni.me has to offer, my jaw dropped. It’s a service that preserves your digital life and allows for you to live forever as a digital avatar where your loved ones could interact with you through that information. Isn’t that so crazy to think about? It’s rather creepy if I do say so myself. The “future” isn’t too far after all.
As designers of digital products, I feel that it’s our responsibility to bring awareness on this topic and to let users decide for themselves what they want to do with their digital property. It is something we all have to think about even if we don’t want to because there is no true immortality, just digital immortality. What will you decide to do with your digital afterlife?
Soranzo, Alberta. “The Eternal (Digital) Afterlife.” The Giant Conference. Charleston, South Carolina. 16 June 2015.
