People’s online footprint after they’re gone.
Discussion
Possibly a bit of a sad thread but I was thinking about JAYB dying and his account now sitting there dormant. He was a great guy but I’m sure he posted stuff, in jest or when drunk etc that he didn’t want his kids to read (or others that were important to him)
All the time he enjoyed here and posts he made slowly slipping into the past.
My dad died recently and he wasn’t big on the internet but had a Facebook account. I just got a Facebook notification it was his birthday, which was pretty sad. I’ve also got loads of texts and photos on my phone from when he was ill in hospital which I can’t bring myself to read again or delete.
In the future will our descendants or children or partners find our accounts on here and other social media, what we watched on YouTube and possibly all sorts of other things?
On shows like who do you think you are, will boffins find our internet activity abandoned photo accounts, maybe stuff in the cloud, some dodgy porn, arguments about brexit etc for future generations to study?
I understand there are companies that can go around deleting all this for you if you arrange it beforehand? Or do posters want people to look back and remember them by their online activities?
All the time he enjoyed here and posts he made slowly slipping into the past.
My dad died recently and he wasn’t big on the internet but had a Facebook account. I just got a Facebook notification it was his birthday, which was pretty sad. I’ve also got loads of texts and photos on my phone from when he was ill in hospital which I can’t bring myself to read again or delete.
In the future will our descendants or children or partners find our accounts on here and other social media, what we watched on YouTube and possibly all sorts of other things?
On shows like who do you think you are, will boffins find our internet activity abandoned photo accounts, maybe stuff in the cloud, some dodgy porn, arguments about brexit etc for future generations to study?
I understand there are companies that can go around deleting all this for you if you arrange it beforehand? Or do posters want people to look back and remember them by their online activities?
this also works the other way round as well with parents posting pictures of their kids all over various social media outlets before they are old enough to comment, agree, disagree etc...
my wife and I made the conscious effort that no social media presence would exist for our daughter till she was old enough to make an informed decision about it - she is 5 in a couple of weeks time and not a single image or digital footprint exists for her online at all - family werent happy but frankly I dont care about that and they are currently experiencing the repercusions of having rafts of inappropriate pictures resurfacing on social media and their kids being in their teens.
my wife and I made the conscious effort that no social media presence would exist for our daughter till she was old enough to make an informed decision about it - she is 5 in a couple of weeks time and not a single image or digital footprint exists for her online at all - family werent happy but frankly I dont care about that and they are currently experiencing the repercusions of having rafts of inappropriate pictures resurfacing on social media and their kids being in their teens.
Facebook don't make it easy to close accounts either (for obvious reasons). In order to close my mother's account I need to present a copy of the death certificate... which is in another country with my step-father who's not tech savvy enough to digitise and email.
With enough effort it could be resolved.
With enough effort it could be resolved.
Hub said:
Hello mum! 
I've been a big forum user over the years, and it is quite a private aspect for me, though most (if not all) forums I used 20 years ago no longer exist so posts on forums will rarely be around forever.
Sorry to be a bit thick but when that forum closes, all the posts just vanish? I've been a big forum user over the years, and it is quite a private aspect for me, though most (if not all) forums I used 20 years ago no longer exist so posts on forums will rarely be around forever.
I was just thinking of this 2 days ago. Got a LinkedIn notification saying 'congratulate XX XXX on his 1yr work anniversary at XYZco'. He was a lovely chap I used to work with many moons ago who tragically took his own life about 6 months ago. It just left me with a great feeling of sadness all over again.
It's an interesting discussion.
Photographs for example. My grandparents died and I recall looking through old photo albums with my parents and reminiscing about days gone by.
Who has a physical photo album these days? All the photos and memories will be attached to social media sites, on memory cards on a phone or in a cloud somewhere.
Oh and kids, if you find this post in the future, the inheritance money the taxman doesn't know about is buried by the 3rd tree from the back fence, 5 feet from the laurel bush!
Photographs for example. My grandparents died and I recall looking through old photo albums with my parents and reminiscing about days gone by.
Who has a physical photo album these days? All the photos and memories will be attached to social media sites, on memory cards on a phone or in a cloud somewhere.
Oh and kids, if you find this post in the future, the inheritance money the taxman doesn't know about is buried by the 3rd tree from the back fence, 5 feet from the laurel bush!
When my brother passed away last year his wife ended up deleting his Facebook account. Obviously she's not supposed to be able to do that, but realistically people share passwords and devices etc. I'm still angry about it as all the stuff he'd posted about, along with pictures of his daughter growing up, have all gone. I wish I'd notified them to make it a memorialised page - not as a shrine or anything, but just to keep the stuff that I don't have access to available.
Last Visit said:
Who has a physical photo album these days? All the photos and memories will be attached to social media sites, on memory cards on a phone or in a cloud somewhere.
I designed and ordered a photo-book last year of the first 14 years of my kids lives. Picking the best 360 pictures from tens of thousands took ages.The idea was to replicate the shoe-box full of photos our grandparents always kept, and the next of kin take after they die.
Last Visit said:
It's an interesting discussion.
Photographs for example. My grandparents died and I recall looking through old photo albums with my parents and reminiscing about days gone by.
Who has a physical photo album these days? All the photos and memories will be attached to social media sites, on memory cards on a phone or in a cloud somewhere.
Oh and kids, if you find this post in the future, the inheritance money the taxman doesn't know about is buried by the 3rd tree from the back fence, 5 feet from the laurel bush!
I do!Photographs for example. My grandparents died and I recall looking through old photo albums with my parents and reminiscing about days gone by.
Who has a physical photo album these days? All the photos and memories will be attached to social media sites, on memory cards on a phone or in a cloud somewhere.
Oh and kids, if you find this post in the future, the inheritance money the taxman doesn't know about is buried by the 3rd tree from the back fence, 5 feet from the laurel bush!
I'm not some old codger either sticking to the old ways
Few years ago I couldn't find an SD card that had a load of photos of myself and friends from the mid 2000s, I resigned myself to thinking they were gone forever (luckily I found it at a later date).
So I started going through my phone and WhatsApp groups saving good photos (not all of them) and using an app called "Freeprints", I can print 45 photos a month for free (postage is about £3).
I have 6 photo albums with hundreds of pictures, go through them every now and then.
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