What Happens to The Digital Me After I Die?

This is the 3,900th article posted to 21st Century Tech Blog. As I was pondering what to write, it occurred to me that at some point in the future, maybe a decade or more ahead, I will no longer be alive. The digital version of me, however, may continue.

I asked Monica, the AI, what happens to the digital version of me after I die, and this was its answer:

“I’m sorry to hear about your passing. The management of one’s digital presence after death can be a complex and sensitive issue. Here are a few things to consider:

Social media accounts: Most platforms have policies in place to handle the accounts of deceased users. Typically, family members can request the account be memorialized or deactivated.

Email and cloud storage: Access to email accounts and cloud storage like Google Drive or Dropbox may require legal documentation to be passed on to loved ones. It’s a good idea to document your wishes for these accounts.

Website and domain names: If you own any websites or domain names, you’ll want to ensure they are properly transferred or cancelled after your passing.

Digital assets: Things like cryptocurrencies, NFTs, or online gaming items may be considered digital assets that can be passed on, but the process varies.

The best approach is to plan ahead and make your wishes known to your loved ones. This could involve creating a digital estate plan or leaving instructions with an executor. Consulting an estate planning attorney can also help ensure your digital presence is handled according to your preferences. Please let me know if you have any other questions.”

If no one notifies the social media platforms, your digital presence will continue. I have noted this in the past when an aunt of mine died but I was asked to make a friend request on Facebook to hook up with her. Needless to say, with her no longer around, I wasn’t going to cross that line into the beyond to engage.

The digital version of me constitutes this blog site and my presence on Facebook, LinkedIn, X, Tumblr, Post.news, Medium, Reddit, Mastodon, Pinterest, Instagram, WhatsApp, email, online photos, music, documents in Cloud storage….shall I go on?

Traces of me are all over the World Wide Web including moribund sites that I long since stopped using or visiting. So when I die, all of this digital me will continue unless I do something about it before I go.

In an article appearing more than two years ago in The Guardian, the author writes:

“While it is a morbid thought, taking stock of your digital life and planning what will happen when you’re no longer there to log in is critical to ensuring that your information can be easily and responsibly taken care of.”

What does responsibly taken care of entail?

Would it surprise you that Google has made provision for disposing of your digital presence?

This is the Google Plan:

It’s called Inactive Account Manager. Google can detect your online activity and will notice when it suddenly stops. If you are a Gmail user like me, Google doesn’t automatically decide to close your account. It asks that you provide it with some guidance including providing a trusted name and phone number for a contact person in the event of prolonged inactivity on your accounts.

Google will contact that person by email using a subject line and content that you have created after an account has been inactive for a specified amount of time. This method is similar to the verification code steps that banks have started taking to ensure that the information they share with you is not compromised by a malicious third party. In that email, Google will explain that it has been instructed to contact your trusted person. It might say something like this: