Facebook App For "If I Die" Message

With a partner, make a list of all the pros and cons of social networks like Facebook. Go to the Exercise Link to do the task.

facebook like
facebook dislike

Read the following article and find out what the three phrases highlighted mean.

New Facebook App Lets You Connect From Beyond the Grave

“There’s an app for that.” This is what people joke about if there is something missing in life. Facebook, Apple and Android apps let us do a million and one useful things. Now we can leave a message to the world that is posted on Facebook after we die. The developers of the “If I Die” app created it after some close friends nearly died in a traffic accident. They had a conversation about how cool it would be to leave family and friends a note, some photos or images after you pass away.

Your friends help you post the message online after you die. App users must choose three Facebook “trustees” who have to confirm that you are no more. Once the three have done this, your message, photos and videos will upload onto Facebook. There are mixed feelings on social media sites about the app. Georgie Ansari from London said: “What a great idea. Death is usually so sudden and few of us get a chance to say the things we want.” However, Paolo Cesar from Brazil wrote the idea was “very dark”. Now, read this article.

  • Explain the steps you need to take to use the “If I Die App.”
  • What suggestions does the video give for the type of message you can leave? Which do you think are best?

In groups, give your opinion about this App.

  • Would you use it?
  • Do you think it is a good way to use Facebook?

Look at these famous last words. Which do you like? Why?

  • Waiting, are they? Waiting, are they? Well, let 'em wait!
    • Who: Ethan Allen
    • Note: Stated after Allen was shot and a doctor told him, "General, I fear that the angels are waiting for you."
  • Now comes the mystery.
  • I just wish I had time for one more bowl of chili.
  • I'm so bored with it all.
  • Love one another.
    • Who: George Harrison, to his family on his deathbed while dying from cancer, November 29, 2001.

Look up another famous person’s last words that you like.
What advice would you like to give to your friends and family if you knew you were going to die? What have you learned so far in life?

Before watching the video and reading, do some research. Where does this piece come from? What can you tell us about it?

Wear Sunscreen

Mary Schmich

Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '97:

Wear sunscreen.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.

Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.

Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.

Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.

Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.

Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.

Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen.

Vocabulary

  • meandering
  • dispense
  • reckless
  • funky chicken
  • berate
  • philander
  • apt
  • inalienable
  • blindside
  • calcium
  • bridge the gaps
  • nostalgia
  • trust fund

Questions

  • What is the tone of the article? Give some examples that demonstrate it.
  • Which piece (or pieces ) of advice stand out the most for you?
  • Would you add anything else? Imagine you could go back and meet a younger version of yourself. What advice would you give them?

Exercise

Open the exercise to begin the activity. Follow the instructions in the document.

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