TASK 1a - Virtual Social Networking as the Panopticon

Social Networking is a Panopticon, functioning as a laboratory in which we are both the observer and the observed. Your social networking profile acts as a captive silhouette within the Panopticon.  Our society is readily available for “an investigation that extends without limit to a meticulous and ever more analytical observation.” The divided cells in the Panopticon “impose on [him] the individual, a lateral invisibility,” manifested in social networking as a thoroughly limited form of communication which is also prone to constant monitoring by the institutional gaze. Social networking allows for the “leniency of a penalty that [would be] is interlaced with the ruthless curiosity of an examination,” the object does not have to be forced to partake. In terms of basic human interaction, it “automatizes and disindividualizes power.” Anyone can scrutinize an individual and use their registered information against them. On the subject of personal information, the act alone of engaging with a social network is an act of permanent registration and centralising of personal information. We have no control over the information that our registered social groups publicize about us. We are half way to becoming docile bodies just from the fear of our information being so readily available. We are already self-regulatory, we choose what we show and tell about ourselves and undertake self-disciplinary action when we commit a social faux-pas through an act of guilt or reconciliation, but we do so in the hopes of developing more intimate relationships that will that will empower us. In a virtual social network, individuals are not only lured by an illusion of intimacy, they also begin associate social interaction with instruction through advertising and policy. Social networking sites are now almost an unavoidable part of life in our society. People have become arranged “according to a double mode; that of binary division.” You are either registered for the great experiment, or you are isolated.

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Facebook is developing technology that could potentially be used for greater monitering. Paired with mobile phones it now has the option to post your location automatically whenever you travel, based on the idea that your peers will be able to find you easier. While you can turn it off, it still raises awareness of the institutional gaze and extends it further.

Creative networks such as soundcloud and flickr allow for individuals to post their produce up online for easier distribution to the masses. Institutions use these services to tap into a great resource of copywrite free material and keep their finger on the pulse. This is then fed back to us by the institutions. We observe trends presented to us by the institutions before they develop into any new or challenging to them.