How to Prepare Afterlife Digital Legacy
Digital Afterlife Legacy We Don’t think About
By Catherine Samfelix
The idea of a digital afterlife may seem like a niche concern, until it’s your loved one’s account you can’t access, or your own digital self that lives on in ways you never intended.
We prepare for our physical departure with wills, insurance, and headstones. It’s time we also prepare for our digital departure—with the same care. Because in the 21st century, memory doesn’t just live in hearts or photo albums—it lives in servers. And unless we act, our stories will be told by algorithms we didn’t write.
Just as we write wills for property, experts say we now need digital wills. These can include login details (secured with password managers), instructions for social media accounts, and guidance on whether AI models trained on personal data should persist.
Some platforms like Google and Apple allow pre-authorized access delegation—but few users take advantage of it. “People assume death is analog,” Greene says. “But we are not just flesh anymore. We’re code, too.”
There are now more dead people on Facebook than living ones—a figure projected by researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute. By the end of the century, billions of profiles may belong to the deceased. These ghost profiles sit unattended unless someone steps in. But access isn’t guaranteed.
Most platforms have opaque or restrictive policies when it comes to post-mortem access. Google offers an “Inactive Account Manager” that lets users decide what happens to their data after inactivity. Facebook allows memorialization of profiles, turning timelines into tribute spaces. Apple only recently began allowing a “Legacy Contact.” But even with planning, heirs can face immense legal and technical hurdles.
In conclusion, the idea of digital afterlife must not be underestimate but must be put into a serious consideration while we live.
