The importance of remembering lost loved ones in a tangible way has always been a consistent part of the grieving process. Whether this involves looking through photos and emails, watching an old video or replaying their answering machine message, many people find solace in memorializing the deceased this way. However, the surge in digital technology […]
The digital age has brought many new adaptations to the way humans experience the world, one powerful shift is how this era has reshaped death in our society. While there are varying views on the pros and cons of this shift, we are going to touch on three benefits technology welcomed into the death space: […]
Reaching out for emotional support to whoever is willing to listen is a natural response when tragedy bares its ugly head. As the landscape of how we communicate with each other shifts towards online interaction, it should be no surprise that more and more people seek counsel for their grief online. This wave of people […]
A common topic discussed here on the Digital Beyond is people’s digital legacies…what we knowingly leave behind, and what we, well, unknowingly leave. With social media’s presence only growing in recent years it has become more commonplace to question what happens to your social media accounts when you die. While we covered this topic in […]
Recently Leonie Fischer (leonifischer.com) contacted me about her design project, Necropolis. In her words: Necropolis is a memorial object for ourdigital presence after we have passed away. An algorithm transforms the Facebook activity of a person into light signals. These are transferred into small LED lights which then blink in an individual rhythm. The light is built […]
I have a confession to make. Despite advocating password management applications like LastPass and SecureSafe, I’ve never been a bona fide user myself. At the encouragement of my virtual assistant, I decided to take the plunge and set up LastPass.
When my father was dying, I often found myself turning to music – as a source of comfort, as a means of distraction, and certainly as a way of making sense of a most profound experience. The piece that most often would accompany my meandering thoughts was Ennio Morricone’s Gabriel’s Oboe. I made no mental […]
While a gravestone is the classic form of mourning and marking the dead, it does have its issues in today’s world. Sometimes we simply can’t be where we want to be. When we’re miles away, how do we mourn and remember those we’ve lost? Thankfully, this is one such area where technology has made great […]
Today Facebook released new functionality to address how profiles are handled after an account holder’s death. The new feature, called Legacy Contacts, allows users to specify in advance a caretaker for their account once they pass away.
Back in 2012 the media was abuzz with tales of what would happen to an iTunes accounts when the account holder passed away. The short answer is, you can’t.
