I am feeling really bad and anxious and as so often that boosts my creativity when thinking about thread ideas.
I currently read a German journal article about digital legacies. I think I will use a translator for a certain passage because I find it really interesting.
Digital Estate Management
When surviving relatives inherit a digital legacy, they often lack a concrete strategy for handling it. Even service providers specializing in digital estate management sometimes focus more on deleting digital traces than on securing them. Awareness of the potential value of a digital legacy for mourning and remembrance—as well as the potentially traumatic consequences of its loss—is still underdeveloped. A lack of knowledge in digital estate management can complicate coping with a death—both administratively and emotionally.
Digital estate management comprises six basic steps. The first step involves choosing the right time to address the digital legacy. For many, this may not be immediately after the death, and it is usually not a problem to wait a while. However, to prevent data from being automatically deleted, one should not wait too long—a sensible guideline is approximately two to three months. Generally, it is advisable not to act rashly and, in particular, not to reset digital devices, close online accounts, inform digital service providers of the death, or deactivate phone numbers, as all of these actions can lead to the irretrievable loss of valuable data. Only subscriptions that incur high costs should be canceled promptly.
The second step involves reflecting on the wishes of the deceased person, as a digital legacy can contain intimate details that they did not want to share and that could permanently alter the surviving relatives' view of the person and their shared past. If the deceased person neither noted nor communicated their wishes regarding their posthumous privacy, one should pause for a moment before accessing their digital legacy, reflect on it, and, if necessary, discuss with others what they would have wanted and what one's own wishes are. This applies particularly to personal conversations, which now also include those with AI chatbots. Furthermore, a digital legacy can also contain intimate information about third parties, whose privacy must also be respected. Sometimes it can be useful to have the digital legacy reviewed first by someone close to the deceased person.
Most of my relatives don't speak English and I think reading my SaSu posts could be difficult. I think they wouldn't deep dive into my account. But I wouldn't rule it out. For now I try to postpone my suicide for when they died. With my relatives I highly doubt they would respect my last wishes. And honestly I don't care much. They can do whatever they want with my data to come to peace with my death. I would feel really guilty about committing suicide. And I think reading my posts would hurt them. Might even kill them. But I think my parents would get strokes/heart attacks just from hearing the news not necessarily reading my posts. I am not sure I think they wouldn't read them. I don't really have a goodbye letter and explicit last wishes. The ones who keep going have to decide what to do. I could give suggestions but I think it doesn't matter much. Epsecially, in the scenario where a machines keep my life going my relatives would be really selfish. This is why my health care proxy is in the hand of a close friend and not a family member.
The passage sounds like something a reflective, self-aware and extremely smart person would do. And I don't think my relatives belong to that group. Lol.
I currently read a German journal article about digital legacies. I think I will use a translator for a certain passage because I find it really interesting.
Digital Estate Management
When surviving relatives inherit a digital legacy, they often lack a concrete strategy for handling it. Even service providers specializing in digital estate management sometimes focus more on deleting digital traces than on securing them. Awareness of the potential value of a digital legacy for mourning and remembrance—as well as the potentially traumatic consequences of its loss—is still underdeveloped. A lack of knowledge in digital estate management can complicate coping with a death—both administratively and emotionally.
Digital estate management comprises six basic steps. The first step involves choosing the right time to address the digital legacy. For many, this may not be immediately after the death, and it is usually not a problem to wait a while. However, to prevent data from being automatically deleted, one should not wait too long—a sensible guideline is approximately two to three months. Generally, it is advisable not to act rashly and, in particular, not to reset digital devices, close online accounts, inform digital service providers of the death, or deactivate phone numbers, as all of these actions can lead to the irretrievable loss of valuable data. Only subscriptions that incur high costs should be canceled promptly.
The second step involves reflecting on the wishes of the deceased person, as a digital legacy can contain intimate details that they did not want to share and that could permanently alter the surviving relatives' view of the person and their shared past. If the deceased person neither noted nor communicated their wishes regarding their posthumous privacy, one should pause for a moment before accessing their digital legacy, reflect on it, and, if necessary, discuss with others what they would have wanted and what one's own wishes are. This applies particularly to personal conversations, which now also include those with AI chatbots. Furthermore, a digital legacy can also contain intimate information about third parties, whose privacy must also be respected. Sometimes it can be useful to have the digital legacy reviewed first by someone close to the deceased person.
Most of my relatives don't speak English and I think reading my SaSu posts could be difficult. I think they wouldn't deep dive into my account. But I wouldn't rule it out. For now I try to postpone my suicide for when they died. With my relatives I highly doubt they would respect my last wishes. And honestly I don't care much. They can do whatever they want with my data to come to peace with my death. I would feel really guilty about committing suicide. And I think reading my posts would hurt them. Might even kill them. But I think my parents would get strokes/heart attacks just from hearing the news not necessarily reading my posts. I am not sure I think they wouldn't read them. I don't really have a goodbye letter and explicit last wishes. The ones who keep going have to decide what to do. I could give suggestions but I think it doesn't matter much. Epsecially, in the scenario where a machines keep my life going my relatives would be really selfish. This is why my health care proxy is in the hand of a close friend and not a family member.
The passage sounds like something a reflective, self-aware and extremely smart person would do. And I don't think my relatives belong to that group. Lol.
