Happy New Year!
Welcome to 2022 and the seventh edition of The Art of Memorialising - an audio newsletter by Peter Billingham from Death Goes Digital and Memorable Words Eulogy Writing services.
The Art of Memorialising curates news on digital immortality, digital legacy, digital life curation and all things #Deathtech.
My aim is to keep you updated with this changing marketplace. To help you learn about trends, and to find potential opportunities to grow your end-of-life or funeral marketplace business.
Thanks for being here.
What Will I Find In This Issue?
What’s the difference between a New Year Resolution and New Year Intention? (And does it matter?)
Which Digital Legacy platform could be right for you?
Pete’s #Deathtech
PredictionsWonderings for 2022
Which is better, New Year Resolutions or New Year Intentions?
I’m not one for making New Year resolutions, or predictions for that matter.
Why?
If you’re like me, while January is still in single digits, I’ve broken them!
Do you know what I mean?
When you set resolutions, they become fixed boundaries, easy to break. This sets us up for feeling as if we have failed before the year has started! Regardless of the progress we may have made. It’s not the best way to start the New Year.
But there is an alternative.
I make New Year intentions instead.
Setting a New Year intention instead offers us flexibility, so we can approach our goals for the New Year with more compassion for ourselves. It’s a far better way to start the New Year.
It’s the same with making predictions - I don’t make them.
If there is anything I learned from January 2020, it was - we never expected how 2020 would turn out.
No throwbacks here to the Old Monty Python Sketch! Nobody expects…!
Here is an interesting prediction.
Earl Warren would have never have expected how his prediction would become truth and reality.
“The fantastic advances in the field of electronic communication constitute a greater danger to the privacy of the individual.” ― Earl Warren
Earl Warren was an American politician and jurist. Warren served as the 30th governor of California, and as the 14th chief justice of the United States. I’m not sure when he said these insightful words, but he died in 1974.
How prophetic are his words? Privacy concerns are everywhere.
So I don’t make resolutions, but intentions.
I don’t make predictions, but have wonderings!
I wonder if …?
I’m wondering if the need for privacy, will develop beyond whatever Warren could have imagined?
Our prolific use of online products, services, shopping and no end of other apps, and social media sites causes us privacy choices. But my wonderings are will we all see such positive choices coming from curating or adapting so much of our life online, regardless of issues of privacy?
Or have we lost our right to privacy anyway?
I passed a billboard this week advertising EE Full Fibre Max broadband. Saying it, “Connects 100 devices all at once, so you can download music, stream sport, enjoy glitch-free gaming and even land an aircraft all at the same time, because it can really handle anything you throw at it.”
At one time, having two or three internet devices connected in our homes seemed a lot - now 100 doesn’t seem so crazy after all. And each one of those connections comes with its privacy concerns.
I think it would amaze Warren how true his predication was!
Startup Spotlights
The most frequent questions I receive are asking about the growing number of start-ups in the end-of-life marketplace.
Which digital legacy platform is the most secure?
There are so many new ways for me to secure my digital legacy. How can I know which is the best?
What happens if the platform goes bust?
Why should I pay when so many offer the service for free?
We could label all digital legacy start-ups with the #Deathtech hashtag. But that limits many of the innovative platforms developed.
Some offer secure ways to plan your death.
Others offer exciting ways to capture life!
Since I started Death Goes Digital in 2016, the language around digital legacy has taken a significant and positive change forwards.
Whereas it was once, ‘You better do this before you die,’ - now it’s more about the positive choices you can take to curate your life online.
So, I thought the best way to start 2022 was to give you a list of all the start-ups I’ve highlighted in the newsletter so far. Just to celebrate the exciting innovation in the marketplace.
Check back to the newsletter archive, for more information on each spotlight start-up.
December - Vocapsule and Re-cordis
November - Mind Bank AI & Hearafter AI
September - Whiteballoon & Shared Affairs
August - After Cloud & Cake
Heard of a startup in #Deathtech? Please let me know.
Email info@deathgoesdigital.com
Pete’s Predictions Wonderings
With a nod to my words above, here’s a few Pete’s Wonderings for 2022 and beyond.
1 - I’m wondering if - Apple’s Legacy Contact Will Make Digital Legacy A Simple Click?
Apple just released the updated iOS 15.2 and iPadOS 15.2. The web has been buzzing with two key changes - its Privacy Report feature and Legacy Contact.(via zdnet.com)
Once you enable the Privacy Report feature, you can see what private data each app is accessing on your device, and how often it's happening. This might be a scary report!
Second, Apple’s new legacy feature allows you to designate a friend or family member as a Legacy Contact, what a Legacy Contact can do and what they'll need before they can access your account data (an account recovery key plus a death certificate).
Worth reading is - Apple iOS 15.2: How To Use Its Most Awesome New Feature (via Forbes)
2 - I’m wondering if - The Growth of Direct Cremation Will Continue?
Direct cremation is the simple funeral choice for a growing number of families. The pandemic impacted this style of funeral, which is low-cost and offers choices for a family over the traditional funeral service. Around 14%, of all funerals in 2020, were direct cremation compared to 3% in 2019.
It’s not always cost I see driving the choice.
Flexibility of location, simplicity and informality are as much reasons. Lockdown restrictions and social distancing provided many more people the opportunity to be part of a funeral from a distance through webcasting. Will it grow even more in 2022?
3 - I’m wondering if - Offering Digital Legacy Advice or Skills Will Become Requisite?
Care Homes, Hospices and Senior living facilities are offering training and advice on digital legacy. Here I’m wondering what opportunities this could provide to support this sector by digital legacy companies?
For example, Compton Care is a leader in palliative care. Compton Care partner with people to embrace life with a complex or incurable condition. It’s interesting to see them offering a digital legacy workshop.
I’m wondering, will more similar service providers take the same opportunity to support their members? Could offering this training be an opportunity for your business?
4 - I’m wondering if - Life Curation Apps Will Become The New ‘Must Have Technology?’
I have been looking at the life curation platform - Personal AI. The beta platform sent me an invitation to try the software. Personal AI allows you to speak, write, or upload insights, information, and experiences into your personal AI so you can recall your memories when you need them. The possibilities fascinate me!
But I’m frozen and stalled by the impacts of that decision to put my life online. What do you think about this?
Over the coming year, I may try an experiment and see what curating your life online is like… but then again, this is not a resolution, it’s not even an intention! It’s a wondering.
Interesting to see HereAfter offering gift subscriptions in the run up to Christmas. The gift that will keep on giving… forever?
5 - I’m wondering if - Major Digital Legacy Players Will Come To The Fore in 2022?
How can you know if the service you have paid for delivering posthumous messages worked? And if it didn’t, what can you do about it?
Ok, it sounds a silly question, but seeing several digital legacy and funeral planning websites close, it’s a valid one.
Who will become the major players as digital legacy becomes mainstream? GoodTrust who we have profiled before just raised $5 million to protect your digital legacy. The amounts of funding being invested into the marketplace makes it worth watching in 2022.
Sponsored Product or Service
Interested in sharing your new product or service with readers of The Art of Memorialising?
Spaces are becoming limited for 2022.
Until March we are offering 50% reduction in the monthly sponsorship investment. Secure your month in 2022 now before its too late or the price increases.
Get In Touch at info@deathgoesdigital.com.
Who do you know who would find this information interesting?
Please, can you forward the email to them? I'd be very grateful.
I’d love to hear from you. Let’s start a conversation - info@deathgoesdigital.com
Until next month, keep safe, and keep going.
Pete
Which is better, New Year Resolutions or New Year Intentions?