Orwell That Ends Well

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/09/08-4

In just the past week, a friend lost his cellphone, and another was robbed. One fell asleep in the bathtub, and another visited her old elementary school. A number had interesting fare for dinner. Some liked the weather, others lamented it. One notable presence in particular diligently posted her whereabouts at all times. Pretty typical stuff actually, and almost none of it interesting in the least.

This isn't the Information Age - it's the Too Much Information Age. Everyone is posting their diaries, dalliances, likes, and longings because they have an audience of "friends" who border on being voyeurs. Disconcertingly, there's no compulsion to participate in this apart from peer pressure, which is apparently a powerful motivator even well beyond one's high school years.

And this is precisely the genius of the Self-Surveilling Society in which we find ourselves: it taps into the psychology of our teen years (to know and be known) and exports it to the world writ large. In this lexicon, your friends become (as in high school) your style-setters, sounding boards, commiserators, gossip sources, reality checkers, and existential validators. If you do something and don't share it, did it really happen?

Today, your friends and acquaintances can "tag" you wherever you go. Photos from every social gathering will appear online almost instantaneously with your name attached to them (so please, dress nicely and try not to eat on camera). Someone you know can log your whereabouts and transmit them for others to see, ostensibly creating a record of your movement patterns. What you purchase, consume, read, and desire can all be compiled with your willing participation.


More at the link ---

[texastoast]

1. Kick for visionary article post

Thanks for posting this. Makes me think about what the kids are getting themselves into.

[Donnachaidh]

2. we've had long discussions here about it

While I want my kid to have friends, he should have a sense of restraint - if for nothing more than to protect himself down the road.

[MadHound]

3. It has become an ever increasing wonder to me

How many people are so easily able to part with their privacy. They consent to have a GPS tracker on them at all times (cell phone, OnStar), let total strangers know what they buy (store "value" cards, credit cards), tell strangers what they do in minute detail(Twitter, Facebook, etc.) and so much more. The feeling seems to increasingly be that if you've done nothing wrong, you have nothing to hide.

Even more interesting is that when you tell people that you're not on Facebook, people think that you're really strange, and seem very much at a loss.