Member Article

Research shows more than half of young people in the North East keep social media secrets from family

Research conducted by Latimer Hinks Solicitors into attitudes of Generation Z, has revealed that more than 50 per cent of those born between 1995 and 2010 would be unhappy for friends or family to access their social media in the event of their sudden death.

The Darlington solicitors conducted research by interviewing 50 members of Generation-Z (Gen Z) in the North East. Gen Z are those people born between 1995 and 2010 and are known as the first social generation to have grown up with full access to the internet.

The research also showed that two thirds do not realise that making a will is a way to control what happens to digital assets in the event of death and that as many as 86 per cent have no intention of making a will for at least a decade.

Nadine Kilvington, a private client solicitor at Latimer Hinks, said: “Having grown up in a fully digitised world, many members of Generation Z will find that their whole lives will have been documented online – warts and all. Given that more than half of young people would be concerned about their families seeing all of the material, it is surprising that 97 per cent of those answering the same interview did not have a will and that 85 per cent had no intention of making one.

“Making a will is a useful way of controlling what happens to digital assets after you die. For anybody who is worried about the secret lives they lead on social media falling into the wrong hands, it’s the obvious thing to do.”

The research also found that: • 97 per cent of those asked did not currently have a will, and 85 per cent had not thought about creating a will. • 60 per cent of Gen-Z say that they will not think about making a will until they are in their mid- to late-30s • Two thirds of participants were not aware of the concept of digital assets as the ownership of access to things that exist in a digital format • 21 per cent said that the pandemic had made them more aware of what happens to their assets when they die.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by News Gathering .