When an Online Friendship Turns Cold
by Have you ever made a friend online who you talked to regularly, and then one day “poof,” they just disappeared. I’m sure you’ve been left to wonder what ever happened to them. For all you know, they died or fell off the face of the planet. Here’s a new service, known as information insurance, that will make sure your friends know if something happens to you.
Although most of us have never met face to face with many of the friends we’ve made at online social networking sites such as Stumbleupon, Digg, or even Triond, we still value the friendships that we have built. Often, we feel a stronger connection to our online friends than we do to our neighbors and coworkers. We know these people share similar interests and we often feel safe in the anonymity of the relationship. We look forward to our daily chats with our online buddies. But how do we know what’s become of our friend when they suddenly go missing online. It’s not as though we can file a missing person’s report. What happens if one of our online friends dies unexpectedly and communication comes to an abrupt halt but we don‘t know why. Here are three websites designed to address this issue. They call it information insurance.
Death Switch
For an annual fee of $20 USD, Deathswitch.com allows you to create up to 30 emails which can include attachments such as photo or video files. The emails are encrypted and stored. As a member, you then specify a scheduled check-in at regular intervals. If you miss a scheduled check-in, your switch is triggered and the emails you’ve created are automatically sent out to your designated recipients advising them of your death along with any personal message you’ve left for them.
Deathswitch creator David Eagleman is a neuroscientist at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas and credits his work in the medical field as the inspiration behind the site. Eagleman says “I work in the world’s largest medical center, and what you see here every day is people showing up in ambulances who didn’t expect that just five minutes earlier.” He continues, “If you suddenly die or go into a coma, there can be a lot of things that are only in your head in terms of where things are stored, where your passwords are.” Currently, Deathswitch only boasts a membership of about 1,000 members, but Eagleman states the site isn’t about making a profit.
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Post CommentYovita Siswati
On March 17, 2009 at 5:27 am
Interesting discussion. The main problem I have with online frienship is that sometimes I just too busy too drop even a note. I have experienced a sudden increase of my day workload that made me unable to connect to the internet for the whole 2 weeks and I have no time to notify my online friends either.
Christine Ramsay
On March 17, 2009 at 5:50 am
I know what you mean. I have noticed one or two long time Triond friends seem to have disappeared, which has worried me a bit. I am not sure I would go as far as using one of these sites though. I expect other demands are being made on their time.
A good article.
Christine
nutuba
On March 17, 2009 at 6:08 am
This is great information in a well written article! Yeah, it’s funny you bring this up because I was thinking about this issue just a couple days ago. I had no idea there were such innovative solutions out there though. Nicely done!
kate smedley
On March 17, 2009 at 6:51 am
It’s good to know there are sites out there where you can check up if someone ‘disappears’ on you. Well written article.
Kim Buck
On March 17, 2009 at 7:15 am
What cool services in for a very uncool situation.
Thanks for sharing.
Betty Carew
On March 17, 2009 at 7:24 am
Excellent article Joni I like nutuba was thinking the same thing. I noticed there use to be a guy named jimy first when i joined Triond but he hasn’t been around for awhile. It sets you to thinking alright. Your article is great I didn’t know there were sights like these.
Darla Cooke
On March 17, 2009 at 8:50 am
A very interesting article. I’ve got an online soldier friend who has disappeared. I have no idea if he’s dead or alive and that’s not a good feeling at all.
ML Sheldon
On March 17, 2009 at 9:01 am
That’s an awesome article!
I never would’ve thought of that kind of stuff… but I have wondered what would happen if I just happened to die one day.
Hmm.
I don’t think I’d invest in a notification service, though.
Olivia Reason
On March 17, 2009 at 10:06 am
Yes, I think a lot of people have actually thought about this- especially when you have international penpals. Good to know I am not the only one with morbid thoughts, lol.
Olivia Reason
On March 17, 2009 at 10:07 am
Yes, I think a lot of people have actually thought about this- especially when you have international penpals. Good to know I am not the only one with morbid thoughts, lol.
rutherfranc
On March 17, 2009 at 10:51 am
very smart of those persons.. it will really be funny when you start sending those `I`m not dead yet` notes and your friend goes `oh, what a waste of tears` and your debtor goes `Dang!`.. btw, don`t drool on the keyboard..
papaleng
On March 17, 2009 at 11:19 am
same question that’s bugging me, what if something wrong happen to me or to my online friends, how should I know? guess these sites will provide me some answers. nice article, Joni, i’ll stumble it.
Jo Oliver
On March 17, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Wow what a great find. i didnt know this existed. i too have wondered what has happened to some friends.
Paula Mitchell Bentley
On March 17, 2009 at 5:24 pm
You get major chiclet face if you fall asleep at the keyboard!
Karen Gross
On March 17, 2009 at 5:33 pm
I had never thought of this! I’m one of those wives who would be lost if hubby died suddenly. We need to start writing down some of the banking passwords and organize our insurance papers and stuff.
Erin Cree
On March 17, 2009 at 5:57 pm
Brilliant article Joni, I knew nothing about these sites something to think about.
Erin
Inna Tysoe
On March 17, 2009 at 11:44 pm
That’s interesting. I guess with the Internet, we will be getting online friends the world over — and you’re right sometimes you do connect to those people. People you are unlikely ever to meet in real life.
Regards,
Inna
Melody SJAL
On March 18, 2009 at 12:18 am
Hmmm…these sites are interesting. Thanks for this informative article.
denus
On March 18, 2009 at 12:34 am
thats really cool, well done.
jo oliver
On March 18, 2009 at 12:51 am
I had to come back and give this a buzz up! It was wonderful, but I didnt have time earlier.
BC Doan
On March 18, 2009 at 8:36 am
Great information to know about these websites, and the services they offer!
OhSugar
On March 18, 2009 at 1:55 pm
True friends never leave. You may not see each other for awhile or you may not live nearby, speaking from experience, but true friends are there for you no matter what, when are where. Chin up
Bo Russo
On March 18, 2009 at 7:38 pm
This is perfect timing,I was actually just thinking about Jimy like yaffel said and even you Joni,and others I hadn’t talked to in a while,and I was going to send you a hello and I saw this.I have a new picture for most of the people here.Joni,outstanding as usual,pretty cool ideas.
Ruby Hawk
On March 18, 2009 at 10:37 pm
This information is interesting. In some cases it would be a good thing to do. I do have friends that I email regularly and if their computer breaks down it concerns me.
Sandra Tapia
On March 19, 2009 at 2:24 am
Hey Joni, no worries about me. Just ask Dan and it will clear it all up! I think this is very resourceful and may help people more than you think! Loved It!
LOVELYHONEY
On March 19, 2009 at 12:00 pm
the poem i wrote on thanks was /is somewhat on these lines /.i lose all my friends for no plausible fault on my part . well i cant help it the loss is mutual.
Peter Cimino
On March 20, 2009 at 11:57 am
What an interesting article. I never knew any of those sites existed. Very good insight and information.
postpunkpixie
On March 21, 2009 at 7:47 pm
Interesting. Funny I’d thought several times before if I wrote a will I’d have to include all my passwords to tell someone to tell my ‘net friends that I’d gone. Now it seems there’s a safer way to do it. Great article, joni. Really interesting…. just don’t pop your clogs anytime soon! lol
Bick Parker
On March 22, 2009 at 2:49 am
Duff technology is our worst enemy, and very stressful to boot. Though my recent absence can be easily explained – I was away visiting my relatives on Seti-5; beautiful this time of year.
Deathwatch though? Hmmm, sounds a bit too final for me …
Denise Kawaii
On March 22, 2009 at 11:57 am
Really interesting! I didn’t know such things existed!
clay hurtubise
On March 23, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Hmmm. I don’t know… after work each day I feel dead to the world!
Thanks,
Clay
Sakuragi
On March 24, 2009 at 12:37 am
I didn’t know such websites exists! =)
I
On April 2, 2009 at 9:58 am
Wow. this is pretty awesome.
I’ve wondered and discussed all this with some online friends.. it’s such a strange idea that you would not hear when something has happened to them, since do you feel strongly connected to them for some reason.
Not sure if I’d be willing to invest 20 dollars in that notification service thing though…
Thanks for the article