Have You Chosen Your Digital Legacy Contact?

Thinking about death and preparation isn't often top of mind. We all know, no matter how old we are, that we should have some kind of a plan regarding our last wishes but it's an uncomfortable and even sobering and somber moment.

Obviously before the digital age it was getting the paperwork in order. Now besides paperwork, there's an entirely new level of legacy to worry about if you will.

Who do you trust with your online accounts? That often goes hand-in-hand with your actual paperwork including your will. Then there's social media accounts and that's where digital legacy contacts come in which is a relatively new thing over the last few years.

I was watching the Greek TV series Maestro in Blue on Netflix when they revolved a season 2 episode about trust around the legacy contact feature on iPhones. Who's your go-to? Who do you have faith in totally and completely to give access to your social media accounts should something happen to you unexpectedly?

According to the Trust and Will website, it's not just an iPhone thing rather Facebook and Instagram have legacy contact features, too. It's not about releasing your password rather it's about allowing your legacy contact to decide what happens to your socials.

Having a Legacy Contact is not the same as giving someone your password. A Legacy Contact cannot log into your account. Based on the app and your settings and permissions, a Legacy Contact cannot access all areas of your account, keeping some private information that way for good.

They can make memoriam posts for example but can't read your messages or do anything with your friends' list, rather can reply to friends, change your profile photos, and even decided to permanently delete our account to name a few.

Depending on your socials, it's a simple as Googling how to create a legacy contact which is often in your privacy setting.