One of a series of leaflets published by The Compassionate Friends The memories we have of our children are precious. We keep physical mementos of their lives – photographs, some of their clothes, items from their sports activities or hobbies, pictures they painted, letters they wrote, and much more. Yet today we also exist in a virtual world – in the electronic memory of a laptop, smartphone or other device, on the internet through social media platforms such as Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), as well as on blogs and websites and in remote storage in the “Cloud”. We have therefore created a range of “digital footprints”, both intentionally and inadvertently. If our child has died, their digital footprints are their “digital legacy”. It can be just as important to be able to access and preserve this digital content as to preserve the material reminders of our children. Our child’s digital footprints and legacy Our child’s digital legacy may be found anywhere they had interacted on the internet or on their connected devices. For instance, their mobile phone may contain photographs they have taken or received, voice or text messages, videos and other material that do not exist anywhere else. Their Facebook page, Instagram, TikTok, or X posts, videos, or comments they’ve put on YouTube or a personal blog may include a host of memories and precious insights into our child. All of these have emotional value, and it is this type of digital legacy that we will explore in this leaflet. It is not possible to provide detailed guidance as the policies and terms of service of social media providers and other services are in a constant state of development and change. However, we hope to cover the main general points and provide you with enough links to get started. Our child, social media, and their digital legacy
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