WEEKEND EXTRA
HAVE you ever asked yourself what you would like to happen to all your social media accounts once you die?
Would you like to leave a legacy of memes, continue to fight for a cause or disappear from others’ screens?
Home Hill blogger Yvette Le Blowitz, who started Spa it Girl reviewing spa retreats around the world before branching out to become a travel show presenter and author, believes in creating online content that will last forever.
Ms Le Blowitz has built a following of more than 67,000 on Instagram and also runs the spaitgirl.com website, providing health, beauty and travel tips.
“I don’t need anyone to update the blog (when I die), the content will always be there,” she said.
“I do a lot of motivation work, working with people to help them find their purpose. I honestly believe … in 200 years’ time that work will still continue.
“To be a true influencer in this day and age it has to be about ‘we’, not ‘me’, or how we can help someone else.
“That’s why I create content daily. There will be enough content there for generations to come.”
Ms Le Blowitz said she created content with the view of it outlasting her.
“When we use social media, what is the message? Is that message not only helping this generation, but the next?” she questioned.
“I have a saying: ‘It’s not about making content for me, it’s about creating for we.’ If I was hit by a bus tomorrow I would be very happy with all my content.”
Gareth Arena, who lost his wife Bec to cystic fibrosis complications in 2017, continues to update her Instagram page. Mr Arena posted a shot of his late wife on the second anniversary of her passing with the caption: “Missing you beautiful. It only feels like yesterday we were on top of the world together and everything in our life was just perfect. Two years ago today everything changed and every day since hasn’t been the same.”
He never had his own Instagram account but decided to take over his wife’s account to keep his family updated with photos of his young son Rixon growing up.
She passed away and I didn’t start posting until about four months after
GARETH ARENA
Rixon was born through surrogacy, carried by Mrs Arena’s good friend Jessica Brockie.
“Unfortunately, she didn’t know she was going to die,” Mr Arena said of his wife.
“She passed away and I didn’t start posting until about four months after.
“For me, it’s also a way of saving photos.”
Mr Arena said the Instagram page had attracted more followers, some of whom either have cystic fibrosis or know of someone with the condition.
“I chat to them all the time. It’s definitely to keep the awareness there as well,” he said.
Central Queensland University psychology lecturer Chris Crawford said people were increasingly turning to social media to create digital memorials for their loved ones.
“There is a lot of good rationale to having an online memorial,” Mr Crawford said.
“For many people, you go to a cemetery and you see a depressing place … and they’re fairly expensive.
“Online memorials have developed in that space. It’s much more cost effective and it’s a lot easier to maintain and update.”
He did, however, question the permanence of digital memorials.
“A physical cemetery has a sense of permanence. Do online memorials have that sort of permanence? I doubt that – not yet,” he said.
Constant reminders of a loved one’s death on social media could also have a negative effect.
“Dwelling on how people died can detract from their own life if they’re reminded about it all the time,” Mr Crawford said.
Major social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram allow users to memorialise accounts. These accounts stay visible but do not appear in public spaces.
Facebook allows people to choose another person to look after their account if it is memorialised, known as a legacy contact.
Legacy contacts can accept friend requests on behalf of a memorialised account, pin a tribute post to the profile and change the profile picture.
Twitter can work with a person authorised to act on behalf of an estate to deactivate an account.