Facebook: The Panopticon
society
By Fiona Alford
Image
from: http://panopticontheory.blogspot.com.au/
Michel Foucault once
stated that power should not be seen as 'an oppressive system bearing down on
individuals' (Petray, 2013).
The social network
that I shall be analysing throughout this blogging activity is Facebook. I first joined Facebook in 2009, and since
then have been an active member. The
main purpose of Facebook in my opinion is to allow easy interaction between
friendship groups through the sharing of photos, private messages, and wall
post.
My daily
interactions with Facebook could be described as that of a flaneur; leisurely
strolling and observing the cyber environment the surrounds me in a distracted
manner (Prouty, 2009). As a consumer I
constantly feel as if I am under the watchful gaze of surveyor, often resulting
in the oppression of my actions due to the fear of being watched. This feeling is discussed by Barnes when he
states that 'Cyberspace is akin to the Panopticon prison' (1997).
The architecture of
panopticon resulted in the development of prisoners perception of
continual surveillance, thereby creating
an imagined sense of scrutiny, effectively taking the place of the prison
guards (Barnes, 1997). This feeling is
an often relatable feeling of cyber-flaneurs such as myself, especially on
social networking sites such as Facebook were users can choose to view who has last looked at their profile
(Barnes, 1997). In today's society it
often appears that people are obsessed with
other peoples each and every move (Barnes, 1997). When interacting on Facebook I am never sure
as to whether my actions are being monitored at any given time, often resulting
in a sense of powerlessness (Barnes, 1997).
As Facebook
continues to influence our lives I shall endure to discover why this somewhat
insignificant webpage has such a hold over our lives.
References
Barnes, G. (1997) Passage of the Flâneur. Retrieved from http://www.raynbird.com/essays/Passage_Flaneur.html
Petray, T. (2013)
BA1002: Our Space: Networks, Narratives and the Making of Place, Lecture 2:
Power; Big Brother and Self Surveillance. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au
Prouty, R. (2009) A Turtle on a Leash. Retrieved from http://onewaystreet.typepad.com/one_way_street/2009/10/a-turtle-on-a-leash.html
Image Credits
Kelly, K. (2013).
Facebook- The digital Gaze. Retrieved
from http://panopticontheory.blogspot.com.au/
It’s an interesting theory. Rather than our actions observed and our motives being questioned by someone whom we regard as some higher, invisible force with no face (such as the government, as was discussed in class), really we are being watched and observed by our own peers, friends and family and in a way, that gives them power over us. Posting a status for example isn’t just as simple as stringing a few sentences together about our day, simply because we worry that someone is going to make a judgement about us based on that status. Personally I think that this gives them more power than any invisible governmental force because they are closer to us. It’s a Panopticon where the watchers are also the ones being watched. In our readings, Sherry Turkle described the internet as a Panopticon, but this is a whole new twist on the idea and one that perhaps is even a little more frightening. It’s worrying that, like you’ve said in your post, people are seemingly obsessed with knowing the details of other people’s lives.
ReplyDeleteHi Fiona,
ReplyDeletePrior to reading your blog I could not see how Facebook and other social networks are creating "a society totally dominated by networks of electronic surveillance." Barnes 1997. We no longer wander the streets of our cities like the flâneur once did in the Paris arcades in the early nineteenth century best described by Prouty 2009. As a society we now 'walk' in cyber space moving from post to post as if they were shop windows, ever fearful of how our comments and actions will be seen by 'Big Brother' and the power that it holds over us and our cyber world. Perhaps this why we do not take our time to wander the 'shop windows' as we once did. Maybe we could all do with a turtle 'to enforce the slow pace really determined looking required.' - Benjamin 1839.
Reference list:
Passage of the Cyber-Flanuer - Gaylene Barnes, Otago University, 1997.
A Turtle on a Leash- Richard Prouty 2009