Today, the digital association Bitkom published current survey results on how Germans manage their digital estate. Regarding security codes for smartphones, logins for social media or digital subscriptions, and PINs for online banking, 40 percent of German Internet users said they already take care of their digital legacy.
For this representative survey, Bitkom Research, on behalf of the digital association Bitkom, interviewed a total of 1,003 people in Germany aged 16 and above, including 873 Internet users, by telephone in October 2021 about their digital legacy.
These are further details:
- 40 percent of Internet users said they were taking care of their digital legacy – in 2019, only 31 percent did so, and in 2017 only 18 percent.
- 24 percent had at least partially taken care of their own digital estate, and 16 percent had done so completely. Another 53 percent were aware of this task but had not yet dealt with it.
- Internet users who had settled their digital legacy in full or in part did so in terms of access to PINs and devices (68 percent), arrangements for the whereabouts of their hardware (45 percent) and for access to online services, such as bank accounts or insurance policies (33 percent).
- Furthermore, some respondents already deposited access to online accounts or messenger services (26 percent), online storage or cloud services (17 percent) and streaming or gaming subscriptions (5 percent) for their family members.
- 28 percent of Internet users said their profiles on social networks should continue after their passing.
Bernhard Rohleder, Bitkom CEO, commented: "Emails, social networks, shopping platforms, payment services, insurance, banking, streaming services and much more: Anyone who uses the Internet today usually has numerous accounts. It is important to deal with the question of what to do with them after one's own death at an early stage. The aim is twofold: to spare relatives emotional stress and the complicated search for usernames and passwords. And making it quick and easy to cancel paid services and subscriptions on the Internet."
Source: Bitkom
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