One of a series of leaflets published by The Compassionate Friends Nearly all online services and sites can be accessed if we know the user ID and password. We may find that a mobile phone or laptop logs into services automatically in which case we can reset the password so that we can gain access in the future. If we want to keep our child’s voicemail greeting from their phone, we could make a recording before the phone number is discontinued, after which we will have no access to it. This can be done manually by playing their greeting whilst recording on another device. Alternatively, we could continue paying to keep their mobile contract active. What we can do about our child’s social media accounts Securing or closing our child’s social media account(s) If we are concerned that people will be able to gain access to our child’s online account, for example their Facebook page, we could consider changing the security settings. This way, we can ensure that posts and personal information are only visible to friends and not accessible to the public. This is particularly important if the circumstances of our child’s death are likely to lead to general media attention. For instance, journalists will be able to take and publish photographs from our child’s page unless the settings are secure. There may be situations when we feel that our child’s social media account needs to be closed, perhaps due to attracting unwanted visitors and hurtful comments. A closed social media account is no longer available to anyone. It and its content are in effect removed from the internet, although comments, photos and videos may be duplicated elsewhere on the internet. Closing the account is a very personal decision and one that should not be taken in haste. As mentioned above, as a starting point we may want to change the settings so that only friends can visit the page. If we do eventually decide that it is necessary to close the account, we could download the contents before taking steps for its deletion.
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