What Happens to Facebook When You Die?

What happens to your Facebook when you die? When I ask Google this, it proudly tells me that it found over 172,000,000 results in 0.26 seconds. Good job Google. Yet in a world where we can access this abundance of information in only 0.26 seconds, it’s astonishing that a simple thing like the deletion of a Facebook account is quite a hassle.

To answer the question – when you die there are 3 things that can happen to your Facebook account. It can be ‘memorialised’, a family member may APPLY to have it deleted (harder than you may think) or you can pre-prepare for your death so that scheduled messages may be sent out upon your passing. Facebook has a mind of its own – and guess what? You’re not there to control it.

Imagine this little scenario: a twelve year old sits in a dark room, ‘clicking’ bouncing off the walls, screen piercing the blackness. His Facebook account says he was born in 1979 – partially for security reasons, but also because it’s technically illegal for him to be ‘social’ here for another year. But all his friends are on it… everyone’s on it, aren’t they? He has a fake identity, a phony, simulated online voice and four hundred and ninety eight friends – well most of them are ‘friends’ anyway. Shocking? No. This is typical for over 70% of 12 year olds with internet access worldwide.

For him, and billions of others, Facebook has slaughtered the social universe, ironically developing a generation of antisocial human beings who would quite frankly rather look at their friend’s photos on Facebook than actually looking at their face during a conversation. And because ‘everyone’s on it’, why don’t we just give up now and live online? I’ll tell you - because believe it or not, everyone’s in the real world too – and it’s much more real and far more profound than an internet forum.

If Facebook were a country, it would be the third largest in the world – which is not surprising considering that it consumes the lives of most teenagers and the parents who want to be ‘more involved’ in their children’s lives. With travel so easily accessible, and people young and old making global connections, Facebook provides a platform that could actually be useful for keeping in touch – even if only to send a message saying “Skype me now!” Sure, this is great – but it’s not the extent of it. Parents calling their children to the dinner table via Facebook chat, students sitting a few metres away from each other in a library having a conversation about procrastination and urgent messages being posted to the news feed for public viewing. Forget telegrams and text messages. This is the future – and this is our current reality.

Let’s think for a second about a world without Facebook. What would you have on your iPhone? Cut out all spin-offs – Twitter, Skype, all online social media – what’s left? A phone? Maybe a messaging capability? Why would you go on your laptop other than to write than uni assignment or edit a photo? A photo that’s essentially superfluous because you can’t even post it on your wall.

I was forced to consider all of this when a friend passed away a year ago. What would happen to his Facebook account? Why does Facebook even matter? The memorial wall is now filled with grief-stricken, tearful comments and the repeated letters ‘R.I.P’ – and what for? Although it’s a good place for friends and family to grieve, the process of deleting his account – which was the intention in the first place – has taken almost twelve months, and Facebook makes no promises to delete it in the near future.

How about the 12 year olds born in 1979? Those with their false identities, false ideals and false portrayals of themselves – how does Facebook assist them in developing healthy social interactions with people their age?

The answer is that it doesn’t. Facebook does serve a purpose – to connect people socially and act as a background to enhance real life communication and social interaction. But it’s been taken too far.

Unfortunately I must admit that I don’t trust Facebook to delete me when I die. Maybe I’ll delete it myself.

Profile: Culture in Wollongong

Australia, and particularly Wollongong has a diverse amount of culture, but is also heavily influenced by other westernised nations such as America. Nevertheless, almost everyone has roots in a foreign country. It is when these people acknowledge and engage in their culture that others can benefit from it. Anjli Poole, daughter of an Indian mother and an Australian-born father, believes that failing to acknowledge one’s roots can lead to personal confusion.

Anjli is an example of someone who has experienced authentic culture in Wollongong. The immense number of cultural experiences to be found in local areas make engaging with her Indian heritage easier, particularly as she has recently strived to connect with her background in new and exciting ways.

Anjli says she was driven to explore her cultural background when deciding on a theme for her HSC Visual Arts Major Work. “I’d always wanted to explore my culture,” she says, explaining that she hadn’t often had the opportunity to do this outside of her home. A few ways she was able to connect with her culture prior to this was through restaurants in Wollongong, and even shops such as Tree of Life. Though she believes that it is “not really” culturally authentic and it’s “more hippy than Indian”, she says that products like ‘Henna’ used for semi-permanent tattoos helped her engage in her culture, and also assisted in the creation of her HSC major work. “Tree of life takes the aspects of Indian culture that it wants,” she says, agreeing that it is not a true representation of her background.

Cultural experiences, Anjli would agree, do not end with cultural dining. Wollongong also has opportunities to attend cultural festivals such as ‘Diwali’, also known as ‘The Festival of Lights’. It is through festivals such as this that she is allowed the opportunity to dress in cultural outfits and engage with other people in her situation, who have a cultural background but who have grown up in a western and often americanised society.

It is the westernisation of much of our culture in Australia and Wollongong which can often prohibit people with European or Asian backgrounds from fully engaging in their culture. When that is the norm in our society – McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Huts – we are constantly encouraged to immerse ourselves in that version of culture, rather than those we belong to. Anjli agrees, saying that “because I explored it I know more about my background and more about myself and my family’s history.” She believes it is important because she learnt about the “evolution of culture, how we perceive our own culture, what makes us Indian… the things that influence us.”

It is people like Anjli, who are able to break the ties of the dominant western and American culture in Wollongong and embrace their heritage who inspire others to do the same. “Lots of people don’t have this kind of cultural history,” Anjli says, but that doesn’t mean that people don’t enjoy engaging with culture. 

Is Technology Deeming Your Education Irrelevant?

Everyone wants to believe that they’re at University for a reason.  Whether it’s based on having the perfect ‘uni-life’, finding a detour around the ‘real world’ or looking for a good education, all students have one key purpose – to learn. But is what you’re learning relevant?

A popular YouTube video made in 2010, simply titled ‘Amazing Statistics’ claims that the top ten in-demand jobs in 2010 didn’t exist in 2004, and that “we are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist.” With the rate at which technology is changing, this video claims that, “for students studying a 4 year technical degree, half of what they learn in their first year of study will be outdated by their third year.” When this video was played at the 2011 University of Wollongong Discovery day, it triggered concerned responses from prospective students, and I myself questioned the relevancy of a university degree that could be obsolete within 3 years time.

With technology constantly evolving and impacting the ways we live and learn, many students in technology-based fields fear that their early subjects will be irrelevant by the time they graduate. Is it true that the information taught to computer science students is outdated by the time they enter the workforce? Will the programs used by digital media students be obsolete by the time they graduate? Well, it depends how you look at it.

According to computer science student Sam Wighton, “some subjects or whole degrees may become irrelevant.” Though specific taught information is in a constant state of evolution, Sam argues that the basic skills he has learned will continue to assist him in the future. “One of my subjects didn’t teach me a single line of code, but taught me the mentality that is needed to code well. It is subjects like this that will keep a degree relevant until we retire.”

Though many workplaces require these kinds of university qualifications, speculation continues to arise as to whether degrees such as computer science and digital media are even required. With skills in software development and training on design programs acquirable on the internet, some would argue that a university degree is ‘just a piece of paper’. Sam Wighton finds it to be much more than that, believing that the skills he has learnt are not purely technical. “The actual content I learnt might be irrelevant,” he says, “but the ideas, styles and the way I have learnt to approach problems will be and is very relevant.”

With this in mind, should universities stop teaching key technical skills in first and second year subjects? Should they introduce fast-track courses to keep up with technology? Well, the reality is that technology will always catch up, and as humans of the 21^st century we will always live in a digital world. In this case, is it worth having a degree in a technical field at all?

I’ll let you decide.

‘Amazing Statistics’ – Watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGGYIw_pIj8

Featuring an Introduction

Hi Readers,

My name is Lauren - I'm a Bachelor of Communication and Media Studies student, and this blog's purpose is essentially to make my own personal work a little less 'personal'.

As a part of my degree, we're encouraged to write daily. Though this is something I'm still coming to grips with (daily!) it's something I continue to strive for, and something I'm endlessly excited about.

The idea of writing anything appeals to me - short stories, features, news articles, you name it - and the idea of people other than me reading it appeals to me even more.

It's about time I empty out the 'personal writing' folder on my computer and make it public.

Enjoy!