Everyone is familiar with the term “legacy”, but most people are a bit lost when it comes to “digital legacy”. Granted, the term is rather new and wouldn’t have had much relevance say, ten years ago. But times change, and we are now faced with such a term that begs the question “what is digital legacy”. To answer this, we need to first go a bit back to what regular legacy is.
A Guide To Write Your Own Digital Legacy
Legacy is what people leave behind once their time has passed. Legacy can be interpreted from many points of view, be they family oriented i.e. children, physical and material like something the person built, or professional, in the form of a recording of all their accomplishments and realizations. But most times, it’s a combination of all these, and can easily be described as “what you leave behind”.
Taking that into account, we can look at digital legacy as a digitized version. It’s practically just a matter of how all these are stored. There was a time when pen and paper would dictate the recording of such things, but today everyone uses digital devices.
Some would call it “online legacy” as well, but that term restricts it to the online environment which isn’t accurate since digital legacy includes physical devices from the digital spectrum like tablets and computers and even gaming consoles.
This legacy can take the form of anything that can be found stored away on one of the aforementioned platforms. Here, we are looking at accounts, user information, audio and video files, and pretty much anything in between. The person related content stored on social media platforms also counts towards one’s digital legacy.
Digital legacy can tell us many things about a person, and can even contain information that can prove helpful in the aftermath of their passing. However, digital legacy shouldn’t be confused with a legal will, which holds a legal binding over that which it includes.
It can be as simple as writing a memoir, which will continue being around long after the author is not. A recollection of thoughts and ideas, accomplishments and regrets, it can all be passed down in a form that is less vulnerable in the face of time. Many are attempting to write a digital legacy nowadays, but some find themselves stuck when it comes to properly doing so. A digital legacy guide could help with getting a sense of how legacy should be approached and organized.
Worldwide digitalization is a process that has started a pretty long time ago, and is continuing to make advancements today. Digital legacies are another step in the march towards a completely digital ecosystem. 🙂
