This maybe the most eerie topic I ever posted but it’s something that has been on my mind for quite some time. We are a technological world, communication has gone from a simple phone call or beeper to cellphones where you can instant message and twitter till your thumbs fall off. Just when I finally mastered MySpace out came Facebook.
What gave me pause is when I stopped to think of all the accounts I have online whether to Monster, here, Deviant Art, IMVU, Marvel, DC…etc…etc…and then the eeriest thought came into my head…who closes these accounts when you’re dead?
I mean naturally if you happen to pass away for some unfortunate reason hopefully relatives who know you have an account would have enough sense to log onto your Facebook and inform friends of your passing as well as the company so that they can close your account. But what about your other accounts they may not know about, what if one has no family or friends to inform the living of your passing. Does that mean your account stays on forever? Is there an expiration point with accounts and if not should there be one just to check and see if you’re alive or not?
Has anyone tried to contact someone not getting a response for months only to find out that they have passed away? Or is there someone who you’ve been trying to contact that has just not gotten back to you at all, not updated their page or anything, and has it ever ran through your mind that probably this person could be dead?
Would it behoove someone to make a list of all of their accounts online to close just in case they should pass away for some reason?
Death is never an easy topic to talk about, but with the information age being what it is, and one person having probably a million and one accounts with a million and one user names it stands to question what does one do when that person is no longer with us? Back in the day if you didn’t get a phone call or a letter from someone you got concerned and went and checked if the person was alright or not.
Now because people use fake names to hide their identity it’s extremely hard to find or contact them if you haven’t heard from them in awhile unless they outright give you their contact information.
So I ask the questions…online accounts for the dead…how are they handled? And if they are not, shouldn’t there be a system in place in order to? What do you think?
Log in to comment