Life After (IRL) Death

[Boo]

Alright so I started reading [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpcUxwpOQ_A"]this article[/url] and I thought the topic was interesting enough.

[quote][font="Book Antiqua"][Many of us leave behind more than just the familiar things in our wills] Suppose you blogged or tweeted about this article, or dashed off a Facebook status update, or uploaded a few snapshots from your iPhone to Flickr, and [i]then [/i]logged off this mortal coil. Itâ??s now taken for granted that the things we do online are reflections of who we are or announcements of who we wish to be. So what happens to this version of you that youâ??ve built with bits? Who will have access to which parts of it, and for how long?[/font] [size="1"][b]~Rob Walker, NYTimes.com[/b][/size][/quote]

So I was just wondering how aware you are of your internet activities and if you have ever thought about the above. Does your behaviour online reflect the person you are or who you want to be (remembered as)?

Personally, I've become a lot more aware of what I do online in the past years. I try to avoid any public ridiculous stuff, I only keep a few social networking profiles and then I don't use my full name for those. I even deleted some extremely horrible OB posts (especially stuff I posted in the last few years that I just didn't think was Boo-ish enough). Funnily, I actually did many of this with the idea of "what if this is what I'm to be remembered by?" because I tend to think of death a lot in a non-depressive, non-emo-ish way. More in this way of "ah well, that's life." "[color="#ffffff"]NO NOTRLY, ITS DEATH"[/color]

Also I'm very aware in the way that I constantly think things like "how would my children react on that?" for example. The first thought that jumps to mind when I see Madonna videos is "WHAT WILL THEIR CHILDREN THINK?!"

Things you could i.e. discuss:
[list][*]Did you ever think of your internet activities as something you'd leave behind?[*]Do you think your Internet-you is a good resemblance of what you'd [i]like[/i] others to see / of what you'd like to leave behind?[*]How aware of your internet activities are you?[*]Should there be some kind of official legal measure be taken around internet histories of deceased people?[/list]And more stuff! Edited January 5, 2011 by Boo

[The Tentacle]

Interesting thought there.  Personally I think if I ever died people would assume I was having connection issues until I faded into obscurity and was forgotten.  Even without actually dying we're all facing this sort of thing everyday.  On social forums like this one there are surely people that have come and gone over the years without staying in contact with anyone.  To me that's like the "death" of their internet persona.  I can think of a lot of friends from past boards who have gone MIA, leaving me with just memories of what they were like.  They're alive and well but also passed on from this small world that fits inside of my computer screen.

As for my internet persona I'd like to be as confident and outgoing in the real world as I am online.  I'm pretty sure if people I associate with online actually knew I'd died they would still remember me for both the good and bad I've done over the years.  Sadly in the offline world only my family would mourn my loss. Edited January 6, 2011 by The Tentacle

[James]

[font="Palatino Linotype"]This is a really interesting question and it's something I've had to think about quite a bit, for a few reasons.

The biggest reason that I can think of is related to an old friend of mine from University. After we finished studying, we only saw each other once every year or so - but we always had heaps of fun together. Last year she saw me on my birthday and promised to come and visit my house; we had decided to see each other more regularly. But then she got sick and went to hospital. At the time we texted back and forth on our phones...and she kept saying "I just have some kind of infection, I'll probably be out in a couple of days and then I'll come over."

A bit of time went past without us talking and I just forgot about it.

Then, a few months later, I found out through [i]another[/i] friend that she had died in hospital - it turned out that she had cancer and by the time it was detected, she literally had a very short time left.

You know how my friend found out? Through her Facebook! One day, she was updating on there like normal. The next day, condolence messages started appearing.

Apart from the fact that I learned about this through another distant friend, I just wonder...what if those two hadn't been on Facebook together? My other friend would not have known. We didn't really know her family or anything. She would literally have "disappeared" and we'd have no idea really.

Probably I'd be trying to text her and maybe someone would answer, but yeah...you never know.

It's just really weird and painful for somebody to find out that kind of news via a Facebook page. There's something really surreal about that.

Anyway, to answer your questions...

I am pretty aware of my Internet activities, at least, as much as anyone can be I guess. I've relaxed a bit more recently when it comes to sharing personal information and stuff - I think that I had become so closed before that it was just going too far. So I think things are a bit more even-handed now.

As for whether my presence on the 'net is a good representation of me...I really have no idea! People who know me only through OtakuBoards probably know me reasonably well and some people probably know many sides of me, but I think that unless you know me "in real life"...then you're always missing something important. It's very easy to misjudge someone when you only know them online - and especially if you know each other via a place that is moderated and controlled to some degree (I mean, I can't make any of my really awesome and completely disgusting adult jokes here, for instance...:P)

I'm not really sure what I'm trying to say here - I guess I'm just saying that even if you only know me from my posts on OB, then you probably have a fairly good idea about me, especially if you read my thoughts about lots of different subjects. But by the same token, you aren't getting the real "intuitive" experience as you would if you talked to me in person. I think sometimes this comes out on the OB Podcast quite a bit...you build up an idea of someone and when you finally hear them talk casually, they somehow feel more tangible and human. I don't know if a lot of people think that way, or if only I do. Haha.

In terms of the Internet histories of dead people, well, I think practicality plays a big role there. I mean, it's physically impossible to do very much with someone's Internet history, given how varied and widespread it is likely to be.

Sometimes your Internet history can be bittersweet. For example, knowing that my friend Hayley's Facebook page is still active is kind of comforting in some ways, in that people can go through it and look at the old photos and have some memories.

But there's something oddly surreal and almost haunting about it, too. I am kind of glad that I don't have any link with it, because for me...I think it would be too much. [/font]