In the event...

Earlier this week I heard a radio interview with a Swedish woman aged "between 80 and 100" who has written a short book called Death Cleaning. It's like  spring cleaning but anticipates one's demise rather than the burgeoning of the year, in other words it means clearing the decks for one's departure.

This in fact is something I have been attempting to do for some time. As the acquisitive and retentive child of acquisitive and retentive parents who died when I was but a young adult, I still have stuff of theirs layered deep beneath stuff of mine. It was only last year that I disposed of my father's diaries. It's hard to let go of the associations invested in these things but  since it's only when I see them that the memories are conjured up they might as well be gone for good. I don't want to leave the next generation with the burden of making decisions about letters and photographs that have no meaning for them. So the responsibility is mine to decide what stays and what has to go and actually to dispose of the latter while I am able to do so.

We also have digital footprints that may or may not be accessible to those we leave behind. This has been much on my mind of late since I heard that a long-tern blipper who I have followed for years had  died suddenly and unexpectedly at an early age. It seems his journal was  'protected' - which must have happened since I originally subscribed as I have never knowingly followed a protected journal: it's just something I don't feel comfortable with. 

 The reasons why people decide to restrict the viewing of their blips must be many and various and may include personal information they would want to keep secure. However I find myself wondering  what happens in the event of their death?  Do their protected journals remain locked for ever? Or is there a proviso by which their  next-of-kin or executor, say, could gain access to view? And would  deceased blippers want their loved ones to see and read their blips  or would they recoil in horror at the breach of privacy? I'd be interested to know what others think about this whether they protect their journals or not.