We always read things about the need for preparation for the afterlife, and we all know that death is the only ultimate reality of this life. However, our life is not only what we live in the real world, with people around us. We have another life as well, and that is in the digital world.
In recent years, this idea was put forward by some people when they realized that like worldly assets when we die, we also leave behind assets in our digital world too. This idea was novel, and only Google had come up with an option for users, with its Inactive Account Manager option. Users could choose the action that Google could take if the user's account remained inactive for a pre-determined period.
By 2020, various technical apps have come up with same feature, like Facebook gives its users the option to designate a legacy contact, a specially designated person who could manage the user's account after his or her demise, or can request Facebook to delete it.
This person can also switch the deceased user's profiles to a memorial design, which indicates that the user is not alive, yet is allowing his or her friends and family to share memories.
The need for these kinds of steps is the need of the hour in this era, where our lives are all scattered into different clouds of the digital world, quite literally, owing to the cloud-based apps and services that we have become so habitual of using.
Most people have a large digital presence in these modern times, and it is the right time to think where your digital assets will go once, you die? You have to make sure that they are secured or managed in the right way, and land in the right hands that may benefit from them or make a decision about them.
You can choose to get your data deleted from various sites after a certain period of inactivity, as you can do with Google's Inactive Account Manager.
On Twitter, someone close to you can provide the proof of your death and request for your account deactivation.
Other platforms do not provide many tools for planning your digital afterlife, however, there are some useful tools and services that can forward your legacy (important data - that you choose to keep safe in your life) to the people you want for it to be delivered.
Afternote, Boxego, The Voice Library, and Xarona are some tools that allow the documentation of your life for those that come after you.
Some services let you or your loved ones to set up memorials like Bcelebrated, Funeral Finder, Journal-of-Life, Legacy, LifePosts, Memorial Matters, Momento Stories, Much Loved, Remembered, Tributize and YouMattered.
You can archive your important digital assets for a long time on AfterVault, Chronicle of Life, Digi. Me, LifeNaut, and SecureSafe.
All your important information, like your social media, accounts information and other crucial data can be archived on Directives Online, DocuBank, MyMoriam for Life, and SafeBeyond.
You can continue to send pre-written messages and gifts to your loved ones even after your death through Ghost Memo, Gone Not Gone, Knotify.Me, Leg8cy, MyGoodbyeMessage, Postumo, and SayGoodbye.
The tools that allow you to plan and chart your digital afterlife properly are Directive Communication Systems, Everplans, LegacyArmour, Lexikin, My Wonderful Life, MyWishes, Parting Wishes, RocketLawyer, US Legal Wills and Vivala.
These services, in some cases, allow you to plan for your real afterlife too.
Take a look at this infographic, which comes courtesy of WhoIsHostingThis, for more information on how to prepare for your digital afterlife.
Read next: Artificial intelligence And Smartphone Photography: How Tech Makes You Look Like A Pro (infographic)
In recent years, this idea was put forward by some people when they realized that like worldly assets when we die, we also leave behind assets in our digital world too. This idea was novel, and only Google had come up with an option for users, with its Inactive Account Manager option. Users could choose the action that Google could take if the user's account remained inactive for a pre-determined period.
By 2020, various technical apps have come up with same feature, like Facebook gives its users the option to designate a legacy contact, a specially designated person who could manage the user's account after his or her demise, or can request Facebook to delete it.
This person can also switch the deceased user's profiles to a memorial design, which indicates that the user is not alive, yet is allowing his or her friends and family to share memories.
The need for these kinds of steps is the need of the hour in this era, where our lives are all scattered into different clouds of the digital world, quite literally, owing to the cloud-based apps and services that we have become so habitual of using.
Most people have a large digital presence in these modern times, and it is the right time to think where your digital assets will go once, you die? You have to make sure that they are secured or managed in the right way, and land in the right hands that may benefit from them or make a decision about them.
You can choose to get your data deleted from various sites after a certain period of inactivity, as you can do with Google's Inactive Account Manager.
On Twitter, someone close to you can provide the proof of your death and request for your account deactivation.
Other platforms do not provide many tools for planning your digital afterlife, however, there are some useful tools and services that can forward your legacy (important data - that you choose to keep safe in your life) to the people you want for it to be delivered.
Afternote, Boxego, The Voice Library, and Xarona are some tools that allow the documentation of your life for those that come after you.
Some services let you or your loved ones to set up memorials like Bcelebrated, Funeral Finder, Journal-of-Life, Legacy, LifePosts, Memorial Matters, Momento Stories, Much Loved, Remembered, Tributize and YouMattered.
You can archive your important digital assets for a long time on AfterVault, Chronicle of Life, Digi. Me, LifeNaut, and SecureSafe.
All your important information, like your social media, accounts information and other crucial data can be archived on Directives Online, DocuBank, MyMoriam for Life, and SafeBeyond.
You can continue to send pre-written messages and gifts to your loved ones even after your death through Ghost Memo, Gone Not Gone, Knotify.Me, Leg8cy, MyGoodbyeMessage, Postumo, and SayGoodbye.
The tools that allow you to plan and chart your digital afterlife properly are Directive Communication Systems, Everplans, LegacyArmour, Lexikin, My Wonderful Life, MyWishes, Parting Wishes, RocketLawyer, US Legal Wills and Vivala.
These services, in some cases, allow you to plan for your real afterlife too.
Take a look at this infographic, which comes courtesy of WhoIsHostingThis, for more information on how to prepare for your digital afterlife.
Read next: Artificial intelligence And Smartphone Photography: How Tech Makes You Look Like A Pro (infographic)