New morbid Facebook app called "If I Die" exists for when you don't anymore
By Maura HehirJanuary 9th, 2012, 3:45 pmComments (21)Now with this new Facebook app, thinking about death is fun again! Or that's what the video introducing "If I Die" seems to be implying, anyway. With its soothing, light-blue color scheme, cartoony graphics, and music evoking those mobile things attached to babies' cribs, you almost forget how fucking weird it actually would be to sit alone at your webcam and film a video that will only be published (as the British narrator enunciates) "aftah you die."
Maybe it's just me — I've been told that I'm an old soul (but more likely just internet-stupid and crabby). But I think we can all agree that life has gotten unnatural enough with social networking. Can't we leave death alone for now? Do we really want the legacy we leave behind after we die to be a probably-inarticulate, embarrassing, and self-indulgent rant captured by our MacBook cameras, displayed under the tacky bubble font and the strange blue blob-people of the "If I Die" app?
And I'm sure that far too many people would use it just to spit vitriol, spite their enemies, and further desecrate whatever good merit they managed to hustle for themselves while they were alive. Most human beings generally have bad judgment at least fifty percent of the time, right? And you're dead when that "If I Die" video goes up. There's no turning back. No deleting. No Ctrl-Z. Basically, the internet freaks me out, and though I will continue to write for it, the day that I create a video to posthumously haunt everyone in my life is the day that the internet has won. I don't know what it wins, but I just can't let it!
Commentarium (21 Comments)
Oh dear god. Make it stop. Let's market off everyone's fear of death and make even that a computerized experience! Weehaw!!
Nothing is sacred and everything can be exploited now, used and abused for commercial purposes. But then, there's a sucker born every minute.
I had a friend die suddenly and almost everyone who knew him expressed their grief on his facebook wall, or on the group that was created in his memory. This is probably a bad idea 50% of the time, but I do know that getting closure when death happens suddenly is a very hard thing to do- these videos might help.
Friends expressing their grief is something else, Mike00d. But someone expressing something beyond the grave IN FACEBOOK is just banal and tasteless. If you wanna leave a video message knowing you will die soon, best to leave it to your family and close friends. What the hell is wrong with privacy people??
Very interesting, especially if they allow for privet messages.
This application is definitely for the attention seekers out there. Those peeps who know that they spent their lives trying to be somebody and will only be somebody once they said their piece and die. Pathetic. Leave a last will and testament to your loved ones and not to a social network where you think you will gain sympathy by posting something that is meant to be private!
Couldn't agree with you more jenny. How can you trust an application with a wrong grammar? It should be "When I Die" and not "If I Die". We will all die anyway.
Stupid people don't care if the app has wrong grammar or not. Stupid people will always try stupid apps like these.
haha! i know someone who's gonna use this and it shows in her timeline profile. and guess what? she is an attention seeking biatch for real.
As if I won't have enough to regret on my deathbed, now I'll worry someone's going to activate that video I forgot I recorded way back in 2012 and my final words will be "Hopefully by the time you watch this NBC has brought back 'Community.'"
If i remember it right, a whole lot of people dissed this application in several blogs last year. Thank god there are a whole lot of sensible people who think this application is as stupid as it is useless.
In the future, I hope Facebook creates a Dislike button. I'd definitely click it if i see someone using this morbid sh*t.
Liking your comment lauren CA. :)
'oh since i'm such a wimp and can't tell my boss what a loser he is, i'll use this app, post it on facebook and he can't get back at me' ... dumbass, the boss will just laugh at ya and shag your wife when you die.
definitely something for the angst ridden. For those left out seeking compassion they believe they never had in their lives. And those with a penchant for suicidal thoughts.
If you set an example in life, what need is there to leave a message after death. Everyone should ALREADY know who you are what you want to leave them with... Unless, of course, you want to 'settle an old score' as the the app developers suggest. Seems like the value of this app is in question...
Isn't it always best to say I Love You to the living and feel the love back while you're still alive? Isn't it fair for those you're leaving behind that you bequeathed them with something without others knowing? If you don't value your privacy in death then at least value the privacy of those still living. Unless you have a chip on your shoulder and need to say something against someone and can only do it after you die...then that is indeed such a cowardly act.
I bet a million prisoners on death row will use this app just to record "It wasn't me!"
Cheer up guys. There is a Hide and Unsubscribe function in facebook.
Thank God for that!
I'd click spam!
Now you say something