What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future

Digital Life After Death

Aug 20, 2023

Kate Lindsay, author of the internet culture newsletter Embedded, discusses the challenges of managing a deceased person's digital footprint, the complex issue of digital ownership after death, and the grieving process for the digital self. It explores the emotional implications of keeping someone alive in the digital sphere, the difficulties of accessing and managing digital assets, and the importance of planning and record-keeping to avoid complications.

26:46

Episode guests

Kate Lindsay

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Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Sorting through a loved one's online presence after their death raises complex questions about what happens to digital assets.

Preserving a person's digital legacy poses a dilemma of deciding whether to keep digital reminders or delete them for closure.

Deep dives

Digital Footprints and Inheritance

The podcast explores the concept of digital footprints and the challenges they pose when it comes to inheritance. The episode highlights how the increasing amount of time people spend online and the larger digital footprints they leave behind raise complex questions about what happens to these digital assets after death. The lack of clear guidelines adds to the difficulty of navigating this new territory.

Introduction

2min

Grieving a Digital Ghost and Tech Company Responsibilities

3min

Managing Digital Assets After Death

9min

The Complicated Issue of Digital Ownership After Death

2min

Grieving the Digital Self

9min

Catherine Lindsay, Production Team, and US Cellular Advertisement

2min

Sorting through a loved one’s things after they’ve died can be an emotional, difficult chore. But now, added to that, people have to sort through the deceased’s password-protected online presence.

Guests:

Kate Lindsay, author of the internet culture newsletter Embedded and the article “My Mom Will Email Me After She Dies” in the Atlantic.

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What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future

Digital Life After Death

Episode guests