Subjectivation of oneself, as Foucault describes it, is one’s
heightened awareness of who sees them and judges them, and that people’s
actions are based off the feeling that they are always being watched. Although Foucault died before the age of
social media, his analogy to people’s social actions as a panoptical prison
fits perfectly into the conversation of one’s image on social media today. In the panopticon prison, all the prisoners’
cells are placed circularly about a central guard tower where the prison cells
are all visible to the central tower, but the guards in the tower are not
visible to the prisoners. The idea
behind this was to keep the prisoners on their toes and, hopefully, induce good
behavior based on the idea that they were always under surveillance. The idea of social media as a reverse panopticon
fits perfectly into the conversation.
The reverse panopticon idea places the prisoners, or users, in the
central tower that is visible to the outside cells, which contains other users,
whose contents are not visible to the central tower. This idea, asserted by
Martin in “Taking the High Road” still makes the user feel like they are
constantly under surveillance, but now instead of there being a small chance of
being watched, it is likely, and almost certain, that the user in the central
tower is being watched, and by many. This
idea shapes how users of social media share content and create their own
content, because the feeling of being watched makes them present information in
a specific way that will enhance their experience and their likability.
As of late,
the terms alternative facts and fake news have been thrown around quite a
bit. And I think that when Rayner
describes the act of sharing on social media as a performance in “Foucault and
social media: life in a virtual panopticon” the image of ourselves that we put
out can sometimes be described as alternative facts in the sense that we sometimes
try to spice things up, or leave things out, when posting while not lying to
our followers. For instance, there are
certain things that I would not intend to share about myself on social media,
but that does not mean that it doesn’t exist in my life or define me in some
way. For instance, no one wants to be a
downer on social media. Often social media
is an escape from stress and anxiety, so normally I would not post something
about having family issues or advice: http://www.goodtherapy.org/learn-about-therapy/issues/family-problems.
For me personally, I would rather talk to a friend or family member privately
about something like this as opposed to sharing it on social media. Another touchy subject that may rub people
the wrong way are political issues and how each person feels about an
issue. I wouldn’t post an link like
this, http://election2016.psu.edu/category/hot-button-issues/
that contains a few current issues and make comments on them on social media,
because typically this can start a Facebook fight or “Twitter war” all too
easily. That is not to say that either
of these types of content hold no value with me personally, but they are things
that I choose to talk about privately with those who I trust.
In contrast
to things that I would not choose to share on social media, there are things
that I certainly would like people to know about myself. For one, this year was different for me and
my fellow teammates on the lacrosse team here at UMBC because we hired a new
coaching staff for this season. Being
anxious and interested on things to come for us, this would be something that I
would share on my social media to clue in some of my friends and followers to
our progress: http://www.insidelacrosse.com/article/fall-all-access-umbc/36385. Aside from that, as a student that is nearing
graduation I would expect some of my loyal followers to be interested in my
plans after graduating if they were to wonder what I may end up doing. Although I am not exactly sure of the road
ahead just yet, I have an idea. As a
math major I am interested in potentially working in data analytics for companies,
and as someone that reads blogs from the site Barstool Sports quite frequently,
this link is one that tells a lot about me https://www.wsj.com/articles/barstool-sports-new-ceo-on-the-power-of-a-small-but-rabid-audience-1470857033. It is an article with a link to listen to the
Wall Street Journal Podcast with the Barstool Sports CEO Erika Nardini as she
speaks on the importance of data in growing companies.
Sources:
Martin, C. Dianne, “The Internet as Reverse Panopticon,” ACM Inroads, 4(1) March 2013, http://inroads.acm.org/article.cfm?aid=2432599 (viewed 8/5/14)
Rayner, Tim, “Foucault and Social Media: Life in a Virtual Panopticon (pt.1), I Tweet, Therefore I Become (pt. 2), and The Call of the Crowd (pt. 3),” Philosophy for Change, 6/21/12, 7/4/12, 7/26/12, http://philosophyforchange.wordpress.com/2012/06/21/foucault-and-social-media-life-in-a-virtual-panopticon/
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