Three quarters of UK adults are unprepared for life after death online according to research from the Manchester based Co-op FuneralCare.
The growing use of digital channels is creating additional grief for the bereaved, and whilst 94 per cent of UK adults now hold online accounts, as many as three quarters have not yet considered or made arrangements for the management of their digital presence when they pass away.
Worryingly, the findings also point to the personal impact that this is having on the bereaved. More than three quarters (78 per cent) of those who have managed a loved one’s online accounts following their death report having experienced difficulties, and a fifth (20 per cent) of these found it so difficult that they were unable to manage the process at all.
Once accounts have been traced, families are facing further difficult decisions when determining what their loved one would have wanted to happen to them. As online contacts increasingly replacing the traditional address book, almost a quarter (23 per cent) of UK adults would like a status update or online post to notify friends and followers that they have passed away.
A fifth (16 per cent) would want their next of kin to have access to their social accounts due to sentimental value, whilst over one tenth (14 per cent) want their loved ones to stay in touch with the online contacts they have built up throughout their life.
For others, granting access to their online accounts is a financial matter. Of the tenth (12 per cent) of people who would like to leave their online account details for their loves ones, over two thirds (67 per cent) say it’s to enable loved ones to be able tie up their financial affairs, and almost half (45 per cent) want to do so because of their financial value.
With the findings highlighting that the average UK adult has accumulated personal digital capital such as music, films or books worth £265, with over 500million online accounts and assets throughout the UK, this could result in a staggering £17 billion left in cyber space.
