Will I still be ‘out there’ when I die?

I was one of the thousands on Census night—when Australians were requested to complete the form online to make a difference—that was unable to fill out the form. While I attempted to fulfil my obligations, I was thwarted by the  website.

Needless to say I was concerned and like most law abiding citizens, I didn’t want to be fined.  I rang the 1300 number to register for a paper form so I could demonstrate I was trying to do the right thing. I tried again around midnight with no luck! Consequently I woke the next day with lingering concern and still unsure what to do.

I soon discovered I was not alone. What a debacle. It has almost taken the limelight off the Olympics.  Needless to say I am pleased I don’t work for the ABS, can you imagine what is going on there at the moment, let alone how Australia’s credibility may be affected overseas.

Which got me thinking…

As a Baby Boomer I am mostly up to date with today’s electronic processes and systems, sometimes more than my younger counterparts. I also like to research and look to see what others think or do. But…

Where is my stuff?

I use iCloud; I use it for convenience and easy access from all my devices and it’s fabulous. But, for all I know my information could be stored in suburbia on the other side of the world in someone’s spare room full of computer data banks. Will I always own and have access to my data?

What happens if we don’t have electricity?

Have you ever seen the TV show Revolution? Makes you think about the ‘what if’s. You can see a trailer on You Tube.  Are we putting enough serious effort into solar or other forms of power including storage of power? I think not and we are definitely late starters. What if we have no power and everything we have stored electronically is not accessible?

When I die, will that be in physical form only?

There is information I want my children to access if they are still able to. However there is a massive amount of electronic data in cyberspace that I have no idea how it will be managed when I die.

How do I prepare for the time I am not here? Will “I” continue to exist as an electronic entity after I’m gone?

What about my Blog, my Facebook page, Twitter and my numerous other on-line memberships? Does this mean I need to articulate every item in my Last Will and Testament for my children to cancel? Even then that may not be as simple as it sound.

 

Potentially I could remain as an eternal electromagnetic spectrum trapped in an infinite universe interconnected by zeros and ones.

And what becomes of:

• My photos – the more you open and close them, saving format changes as does the quality of the dpi (dots per inch), so how long will they last as a ‘soft’ copy. Should we still keep hard copies?
• My document files – software and hardware constantly changes. I have some old discs that I can no longer access. What if I can’t access everything in the future?
• My identity – identity theft is happening already, should we be getting insurance to protect us now?
• My passwords – so many of them, how do you remember them all? Should you save or record them and what happens when you die if you don’t have them recorded in a safe place?

There are a myriad of questions, these are minuscule. If there are comforting answers out there I have yet to find them.

Got to go and back-up my data on a hard drive that is compatible, for the moment!