Hello, I’m Mike Russell one of the co-founders of the New Media Europe conference and today is day 39 of 100 New Media tools to promote the conference. I wanted to take you on a little Sunday stroll with me today. Really in reality I’m not going to be playing with Twitter, I’m not going setup an if this then that recipe or anything like that. I’d like to talk to you a little bit more about mindset today. Today I would like to talk to you about death or if you prefer the term our own mortality. If you enjoy this chat then I recommend you checkout my friend, Peter Billingham, and I’ll give you links to what he’s up to at the end of this story.
A Reminder of Our Own Mortality
Just this week I got the news that somebody I crossed paths with t the start of my radio career has passed away.
He’s just a few years older than me. He went way before his time, he’s just a few years older than me and I like to believe that I have a fair few more years left on this planet yet. Despite the fact that I really didn’t really know him all that well, I have fond memories of the start of my radio journey with him in it. I found myself last night focusing on him and his life and his energy wherever that happens to be now. Whether that’s in the universe, in heaven, whatever you believe. Of course there’s where we’re all online now, we’ve got our Facebook profile, we’ve got our Twitter accounts, we’ve got so much digital baggage. One of the things I did was take a look at his Facebook profile. I’m friends with him on Facebook and it’s been immortalised. Now it just says remembering and it has all of his posts.
Our Facebook Profile After We Die
It struck me at just how many people have done the same thing as me, visited his profile as soon as they heard the news and written a comment. I think the thing that really got to me was the fact that he wasn’t that much older than me so it really made me think about my own mortality and the meaning and the value that we bring to this world. Everyday I’m doing something to try to move the needle to sell out our conference this summer in London, New Media Europe. I’m really, really trying. Then I just sat back and thought what if the largest activity I ever get on one of my digital profiles happens after I die. We all get those lovely Facebook comments when we have a birthday, streams of them usually, Google+ messages, tweets.
Creating More Imapct Today Than Your Dead Self Will Create
What I guess I’m almost saying is we live in such an almost hokey online digital world where people don’t any longer send letters or written notes, they just write a comment. Don’t get me wrong, I love New Media, I love the online world. It just makes me think about what we’re doing everyday. If perhaps you’re struggling to get motivated to launch a business idea, your own thought, quit your 9 to 5, ask yourself this question today, “What am I doing today to create more impact than my dead self would do?” Really I just wanted to leave you with that thought today. If this story has in any way caused you to think or impacted you in any way and you’re watching on Snapchat, please do snap me back.
Your Thoughts on Death?
Let me know your thoughts on this story. Thanks for watching. By the way my friend is Peter Billingham. He’s @PeteBillingham on Twitter. He’s the author of a must read book if you’re in the New Media world called Death Goes Digital. He’s also a host of a podcast under the same name, Death Goes Digital. Get ready to screenshot, the next couple of snaps will contain links to his book and his podcast.
