Report: More People Being Buried With BlackBerries
There is an increasing number of people are choosing to be buried with their BlackBerries, cell phones and other personal gadgets.
The latest fad to hit funeral homes this year is not diamond-encrusted coffins. It's something else entirely. Turns out, an increasing number of people are choosing to be buried with their BlackBerries, cell phones and other personal gadgets.
A little dark humor this morning...
Perhaps the most famous mummy is that of King Tutankhamun. Why so famous? Well, many believed that good ole King Tut was buried with vast amounts of treasure. It wasn't an unreasonable assumption. Ancient Egyptians were often buried with a sampling of their earthly possessions, which they believed would accompany them into the afterlife.
Fast-forward to modern day, and a new sort of "treasure" is accompanying people, if not into the afterlife, at least into the grave: their cell phones, BlackBerries and other devices.
This factoid comes from a recent MSNBC report, which canvassed funeral homes and interviewed the family and loved ones of the dearly departed.
Noelle Potvin, family service counselor for Hollywood Forever, a funeral home and cemetery in Hollywood, Calif., told MSNBC, "It seems that everyone under 40 who dies takes their cell phone with them. It's a trend with BlackBerrys, too. We even had one guy who was buried with his Game Boy. A lot of people say the phone represents the person, that it is part of their legacy. It's an extension of them, like their class ring."
Other people interviewed by MSNBC say that they bury cell phones or BlackBerries with loved ones so that they may call the person -- even though they won't answer -- to leave messages, or "let them know they're thinking about them."
For the record, I have chosen to be cremated when I die. The purifying power of fire has a certain appeal to it. (That, and I'd like to plague my descendants with the care of my ashes for decades.) Nothing will accompany me into the crematorium. Just me, a simple, pine coffin, and perhaps my favorite pair of jeans and rock-n-roll t-shirt.
What about you, what will you take with you to the grave?
