Social Media and Death: What is your plan?

Platapus · 07-03-16, 01:43 PM

This discussion would have been inappropriate in the Mush Martin thread, but in reading that thread, it did raise a question for me.

As social media presence becomes more common and in many case important to people, what can/should happen when a person dies?

Many people might like to have such notices as we had concerning Mush Martin. To some it may be much better than just having a member not posting any more.

But with computers being locked and websites having separate passwords, plans need to be made concerning a person's posthumous presence.

So that actually raises two separate questions

1. Do you want any type of announcement on your social media about your death?

2. Do you have a plan where a trusted person would have the necessary information to be able to make such an announcement?

I wonder how many of us have actually discussed this topic with their "life partner" (how ever that is defined these days)?

I can imagine this might be an uncomfortable topic to discuss, but for some it may be important.

Platapus · 07-03-16, 01:45 PM

I might as well share my opinions on this since I started it.

I don't have a large social media presence and would probably wish it to simply die off once I... well...uh... die off.

This is especially true for my social presence with people I have never actually met.

Betonov · 07-03-16, 02:17 PM

Thought about it but never carried trough any plan.

I guess the 2 best options for subsim are

1) leave contacts in my last testament to Oberon, HunterICX or Jimbuna and they will relay the word

2) after meeting that someone special, introduce them to either Jammie, Wim or Jim and she will contact them afterwards

Regarding Facebook, to hell with it. Let my profile slide into oblivion.
Anyone I still have in my contacts there will find out via more personal means.
Those I don't care about are long gone from my friends list.

Oberon · 07-03-16, 02:52 PM

I stumbled across this the other day when reading a book by the guy who does the XKCD comics ('What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions - Randall Munroe) and someone asked when the time would come that dead facebook profiles would outnumber living ones.
I think that as we continue with social media and develop more advanced forms of it, the people that design and operate it are going to have to have to develop plans on how to deal with deceased members. For example, should a dead person have their page closed so no-one can comment on it? Thus preventing trolls and spambots from cluttering up their page since they're not around to stop it. Or should their page become a memorial where people can share their thoughts and memories about the deceased, and if so then who maintains the page to stop malicious and/or spam posts? A next of kin or a designated volunteer user?
I had a thought and went to facebook to a friends page who I know died a few weeks back, it's currently being looked after by his other half, although I'm not sure if she has actual user access to the page or whether she's just posting across onto it.

Of course, at some point in the future the question arises that if we leave a big enough digital footprint that rudimentary programs may be able to create a form of AI that mimicks the deceased, allowing some form of continued interaction...although to be honest, it's hard to say if that's a good thing or a bad thing, especially when you extrapolate technology from there and go into cloning and/or android copy with cranial information transfer. That's probably beyond our lifetimes though, something for the next generation to think about...probably.

Mittelwaechter · 07-03-16, 05:22 PM

To care about the dead is something for the living. So I let them do what they are after.

Aktungbby · 07-03-16, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Platapus

I don't have a large social media presence and would probably wish it to simply die off once I... well...uh... die off.

This is especially true for my social presence with people I have never actually met.

Not to worry ol' chum!

When you R finally 'down under'...well...uh...U will be reported down under ...uh... soda speke

http://www.platypus.asn.au/reporting.html

Quote:

If you have ever seen a platypus in the wild (either alive or dead), you possess information that is vital to our understanding of the status, distribution and conservation needs of the species. Therefore, please consider reporting the details of your sighting(s) to the Australian Platypus Conservancy.

I understand my long suffering spouse is going to deposit my ashes ceremoniously in a favorite stream on the isle of Kauai where I will undoubtedly wash into a nearby taro farm...one could...uh...say I'm POIsed on the brink of eternity!

d@rk51d3 · 07-04-16, 03:12 AM

.............and don't come to my funeral, 'coz I won't be going to yours.

Jimbuna · 07-04-16, 05:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Platapus

I might as well share my opinions on this since I started it.

I don't have a large social media presence and would probably wish it to simply die off once I... well...uh... die off.

This is especially true for my social presence with people I have never actually met.

I feel pretty similar and short of a sudden unexpected death, more in the way of something expected I think I'd leave instructions and a set of contact details for my lad to notify those I would want informing.

Hopefully that is a long way off though.

Catfish · 07-04-16, 07:29 AM

I plan to delete the internet, one day before i die.

Admiral Halsey · 07-04-16, 07:30 AM

Just let it wither away I guess. Really what I worry about is what's gonna happen to here when Neal passes onto Eternal Patrol.

Skybird · 07-04-16, 07:37 AM

Since some violent events I had to witness over the span of my life, or even being targeted by some of them, I live by the rule of staying aware of that every day could be my last. In the face of death able to find you any moment, nothing is important. I would recommend to live every day the way you want and as if it were your last. That is also true for antisocial media (which I do not use at all).

If the life that results from this, feels profane for you, then you probably do something right.

In the meaning of that only a person who wastes time, has time. Those organising their time all day long, by the end of the day find that they have no time. I have no life checklists whose items I tick off one by one.

Keep your cases and issues organised as if you never will see your flat again, when you leave it over the day. Do your computer- and antisocial media things in a way as if you will never return to them. Do not regret anything.

Its the only way to make sense of it all.

Most people get found by death totally unprepared, both in material state of things, and their minds. Thats the message in so many different philosophic, spiritual and religious teachings.

For myself, I just care for my old parents by now, and a distant friend's family. I make sure I do not owe anything to anyone beyond these, and nowadays mostly refuse to contribute to strangers and communities beyond this principle. That may not be in line with the demands and expectations others direct at me, but I do not owe them to be at their obedient service, and must not accept claims others make for me, for I am in compliance with my conscience and the standards for what I consider to be right and wrong. And as far as my life is concerned, it is my standards, not anyone else's, that count.

This has become habit by now so that I must not think of it anymore. So, any social contacts and public stuff I do is in agreement with this, all by itself.

I do not expect to be remembered, nor do I want that. Fishes swim, birds fly, leafs fall, me dies one day. Nothing spectacular happened. I fear I am quite sober and unsentimental about these things. Maybe because I already live my third life anyway and easily cloud have gotten killed on two earlier occasions: bonus play, so to speak.

Skybird · 07-04-16, 07:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Admiral Halsey

Just let it wither away I guess. Really what I worry about is what's gonna happen to here when Neal passes onto Eternal Patrol.

He will return as the Flying Texasman in a rocket-driven submarine. I only hope he does not sing a libretto.

Commander Wallace · 07-04-16, 08:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Platapus

I might as well share my opinions on this since I started it.

I don't have a large social media presence and would probably wish it to simply die off once I... well...uh... die off.

This is especially true for my social presence with people I have never actually met.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

I feel pretty similar and short of a sudden unexpected death, more in the way of something expected I think I'd leave instructions and a set of contact details for my lad to notify those I would want informing.

Hopefully that is a long way off though.

I feel pretty much the same way. The only difference Platapus is the fact that people here would want to know and as Jim said, would probably leave a way to notify people. That's just a courtesy I think. It doesn't need to be anything elaborate. It could be something like this.

" Joe was here but now he's gone. He left his name to carry on. Those who knew him, knew him well. Those who didn't can go to " ........
You get the picture

Seriously, a large number of people in the entertainment industry have been lost this year. It's somewhat odd that we grieve them, having never met them for the most part. I'm guessing that's because in a large way, these musicians have in our own mind, wrote the soundtrack and anthems to our own lives and struggles. We tend to connect personal events in our lives to songs and the artists who wrote and performed them.

In various ways, we feel we know these musicians even though we didn't because we connected with their music and the messages they conveyed through their songs.

I know that's a personal thing most musicians work hard to get through to their listeners and it's gratifying if they have. Their music tends to live on long after they are gone and is a legacy which time only serves to make more endearing. For musicians, it doesn't get any better than to be remembered that way.

Platapus · 07-04-16, 08:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Commander Wallace

Seriously, a large number of people in the entertainment industry have been lost this year. It's somewhat odd that we grieve them, having never met them for the most part.

I have to admit that this is something I just don't understand. When an entertainer dies, their work does not cease to exist. You can still enjoy their work as much as you did when they were alive. This is especially true with entertainers who have retired. If the entertainer was still active, I can imagine someone being sad or disappointed that there will be no future work produced.

I guess grieve means different things to different people. I suspect that in the case of entertainers it may be a case of who can post the most public grief.

But to actually grieve (not just in public) someone you never met and really did not know, that's weird to me.

I can be sad that someone died, but to actually grieve? That, to me, requires an actual personal relationship.

But people handle death different.

Rockstar · 07-04-16, 09:09 AM

I say keep'em guessing, its how legends are made.

07-03-16, 01:43 PM	#1
Platapus Fleet Admiral Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 19,362 Downloads: 63 Uploads: 0	Social Media and Death: What is your plan? This discussion would have been inappropriate in the Mush Martin thread, but in reading that thread, it did raise a question for me. As social media presence becomes more common and in many case important to people, what can/should happen when a person dies? Many people might like to have such notices as we had concerning Mush Martin. To some it may be much better than just having a member not posting any more. But with computers being locked and websites having separate passwords, plans need to be made concerning a person's posthumous presence. So that actually raises two separate questions 1. Do you want any type of announcement on your social media about your death? 2. Do you have a plan where a trusted person would have the necessary information to be able to make such an announcement? I wonder how many of us have actually discussed this topic with their "life partner" (how ever that is defined these days)? I can imagine this might be an uncomfortable topic to discuss, but for some it may be important. __________________ abusus non tollit usum - A right should NOT be withheld from people on the basis that some tend to abuse that right.

07-03-16, 01:45 PM	#2
Platapus Fleet Admiral Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 19,362 Downloads: 63 Uploads: 0	I might as well share my opinions on this since I started it. I don't have a large social media presence and would probably wish it to simply die off once I... well...uh... die off. This is especially true for my social presence with people I have never actually met. __________________ abusus non tollit usum - A right should NOT be withheld from people on the basis that some tend to abuse that right.

07-03-16, 05:22 PM	#5
Mittelwaechter The Old Man Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 1,304 Downloads: 35 Uploads: 0	To care about the dead is something for the living. So I let them do what they are after. __________________ 10 happy wolves rear 90 blinded, ensnared sheep. 90 happy sheep banish the wolves. Arrest the 1% - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ6hg1oNeGE

07-04-16, 07:29 AM	#9
Catfish Dipped Squirrel Operative Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: ..where the ocean meets the sky Posts: 17,766 Downloads: 38 Uploads: 0	I plan to delete the internet, one day before i die. __________________ >^..^<*)))>{ All generalizations are wrong.

07-04-16, 07:30 AM	#10
Admiral Halsey Best Admiral in the USN Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: USS Enterprise (CV-6) Posts: 1,740 Downloads: 317 Uploads: 0	Just let it wither away I guess. Really what I worry about is what's gonna happen to here when Neal passes onto Eternal Patrol. __________________ "This is not a peace. It is an armistice for twenty years" - Ferdinand Foch on the Treaty of Versailles.(Boy was he ever right.)

07-03-16, 02:17 PM	#3
Betonov Navy Seal Join Date: May 2009 Location: Slovenia Posts: 8,647 Downloads: 26 Uploads: 0	Thought about it but never carried trough any plan. I guess the 2 best options for subsim are 1) leave contacts in my last testament to Oberon, HunterICX or Jimbuna and they will relay the word 2) after meeting that someone special, introduce them to either Jammie, Wim or Jim and she will contact them afterwards Regarding Facebook, to hell with it. Let my profile slide into oblivion. Anyone I still have in my contacts there will find out via more personal means. Those I don't care about are long gone from my friends list.

07-03-16, 02:52 PM	#4
Oberon Lucky Jack Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 25,976 Downloads: 61 Uploads: 20	I stumbled across this the other day when reading a book by the guy who does the XKCD comics ('What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions - Randall Munroe) and someone asked when the time would come that dead facebook profiles would outnumber living ones. I think that as we continue with social media and develop more advanced forms of it, the people that design and operate it are going to have to have to develop plans on how to deal with deceased members. For example, should a dead person have their page closed so no-one can comment on it? Thus preventing trolls and spambots from cluttering up their page since they're not around to stop it. Or should their page become a memorial where people can share their thoughts and memories about the deceased, and if so then who maintains the page to stop malicious and/or spam posts? A next of kin or a designated volunteer user? I had a thought and went to facebook to a friends page who I know died a few weeks back, it's currently being looked after by his other half, although I'm not sure if she has actual user access to the page or whether she's just posting across onto it. Of course, at some point in the future the question arises that if we leave a big enough digital footprint that rudimentary programs may be able to create a form of AI that mimicks the deceased, allowing some form of continued interaction...although to be honest, it's hard to say if that's a good thing or a bad thing, especially when you extrapolate technology from there and go into cloning and/or android copy with cranial information transfer. That's probably beyond our lifetimes though, something for the next generation to think about...probably.

07-04-16, 03:12 AM	#7
d@rk51d3 Sea Lord Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Adelaide, South Australia Posts: 1,951 Downloads: 207 Uploads: 0	.............and don't come to my funeral, 'coz I won't be going to yours.

07-04-16, 07:37 AM	#11
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 42,620 Downloads: 10 Uploads: 0	Since some violent events I had to witness over the span of my life, or even being targeted by some of them, I live by the rule of staying aware of that every day could be my last. In the face of death able to find you any moment, nothing is important. I would recommend to live every day the way you want and as if it were your last. That is also true for antisocial media (which I do not use at all). If the life that results from this, feels profane for you, then you probably do something right. In the meaning of that only a person who wastes time, has time. Those organising their time all day long, by the end of the day find that they have no time. I have no life checklists whose items I tick off one by one. Keep your cases and issues organised as if you never will see your flat again, when you leave it over the day. Do your computer- and antisocial media things in a way as if you will never return to them. Do not regret anything. Its the only way to make sense of it all. Most people get found by death totally unprepared, both in material state of things, and their minds. Thats the message in so many different philosophic, spiritual and religious teachings. For myself, I just care for my old parents by now, and a distant friend's family. I make sure I do not owe anything to anyone beyond these, and nowadays mostly refuse to contribute to strangers and communities beyond this principle. That may not be in line with the demands and expectations others direct at me, but I do not owe them to be at their obedient service, and must not accept claims others make for me, for I am in compliance with my conscience and the standards for what I consider to be right and wrong. And as far as my life is concerned, it is my standards, not anyone else's, that count. This has become habit by now so that I must not think of it anymore. So, any social contacts and public stuff I do is in agreement with this, all by itself. I do not expect to be remembered, nor do I want that. Fishes swim, birds fly, leafs fall, me dies one day. Nothing spectacular happened. I fear I am quite sober and unsentimental about these things. Maybe because I already live my third life anyway and easily cloud have gotten killed on two earlier occasions: bonus play, so to speak. __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.

07-04-16, 09:09 AM	#15
Rockstar In the Brig Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Zendia Bar & Grill Posts: 12,614 Downloads: 10 Uploads: 0	I say keep'em guessing, its how legends are made.