I never cease to be amazed by the extent to which the Internet can answer questions we never even think to ask. For example, I can honestly say I never gave any thought to what would become of my email accounts or my Facebook page after I kicked the bucket. How, without my password, would someone log into my Twitter account and let the word ring forth that I had bought the farm? If questions such as these are keeping you up at night, then fear no more – your online afterlife is just a few clicks and credit card swipes away.
Legacy Locker stores your online IDs and passwords, and hands them out to your loved ones after you’ve checked out. No more worrying about all those millions of dollars sitting in your PayPal account!
Death Switch is another interesting site. They will email you regularly to see if you’re still alive, and if they don’t hear back from you for a while, they’ll send out the farewell emails which you have entered in their system. You can prepare several farewell letters, so that your children and your old flames don’t get the same one.
On a more serious note, it is interesting to think of the applications that systems like these could be used for. There is a great deal we do to prepare things in real life in case the unexpected – or the expected – happens. Yet most people spend very little time thinking about the postmortem fate of their Facebook pages and other such online accounts. I’m certain that in many cases those accounts just live on, eventually ending up purged for inactivity, or erased when the service shuts down.
I have to say, though, if you’re the type of person who would leave it up to an online service to send out farewell letters after your death, the list of recipients probably won’t be very long.
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Mika Salakka is a Finn living in the United States. He is a nursing assistant, a creative writer, a devoted husband, and an observer of the human condition. His interests range from music and literature to psychology, sociology, medicine, technology, and spirituality.
