Written by Cassie, 2021 Cohort
Young people nowadays think a lot. We not only think about life and death but also about inheritance, even though maybe we don’t have many assets to inherit yet. However, there is an inheritance that everyone has: chat logs, social media updates, photos, gaming gear, etc. Therefore, what happens to these digital legacies after a person dies? This is a dilemma for everyone.
The digital age complicates both the pain and grief when people are facing death, as we desire to preserve both memories and a certain degree of privacy at the same time. Some think that our digital heritage is also a part of personal heritage, especially the property in the payment account and the data in Google Drive, which should belong to their family members. However, other people believe that their Facebook, Whatsapp and other social accounts record a lot of privacy that they do not want their family to know. Thus, these contents should not be inherited.
For me, I don’t want my internet records to be passed on to family members. It is apparent that the functions of social platforms and diaries are somewhat similar nowadays, which means that letting others read my social accounts is equivalent to reading my diary. I’m sure many people, like me, have a very different image on the internet and in reality. More specifically, I am sentimental as well as gregarious on the internet. Conversely, people think I am quiet and reserved in reality. Hence, the feeling of having one’s secret exposed is too embarrassing! This situation cannot let me “die in peace”. Maybe before I die, I’ll leave my last breath to format my social accounts!
As for others, they hope that all their online legacy can be inherited by their families. Because what they leave behind in the online world is not only monetary property on platforms such as Alipay but more valuable spiritual wealth, such as family group photos and electronic books. They hope that after their death, their family members can use this digital information to cherish the memory of them and the good time together.
Perhaps in the near future, people will stay in the memory of history in new ways, providing unlimited possibilities for future generations to traverse their memories. I can’t help but think of the movie “Coco”, which has a thought-provoking line: “When there’s no one left in the living world who remembers you, you disappear from this world. We call it the Final Death.”