Digital Crossing

We live in a new world that presents us each day with never-before-encountered situations. This morning, LinkedIn invited me to congratulate a contact on his work anniversary and I am sure several of that person’s other contacts received the same suggestion. Nothing wrong with this, except that my contact (who used also to be a very dear friend) passed away more than two years ago.

It was a disturbing incident for me (and I imagine for some others that knew him well) but, given the large numbers of contacts many of us have on these sites, it is safe to assume this happens every day. I was disturbed enough to do some research and learn there is actually a book titled ‘The Digital Beyond’ authored by Evan Caroll to dwell on such dilemmas. I understand Mr. Carroll works towards making digital experiences ‘more personal, more emotional and more effective’ and has co-authored another book ‘Your Digital Afterlife: When Facebook, Flickr and Twitter Are Your Estate, What’s Your Legacy?’. In this age of social media, we might all want to consider this question, just as we think about the other possessions that we bequeath or the other aspects of our lives where we seek to effect closure.

A part of me can’t help longing nostalgically for a simpler time, when meeting and talking and hand-written letters served to make our experiences ‘more personal, more emotional and more effective’…

http://www.5oclockreflections.com/digital-crossing/