Final Excerpt #1

Throughout the semester, a lot of our topics could be connected back to how social media plays a role on our lives. Mainly the ideas of living life through representation and aura were popular, but during the end of the year, social media was saw in a new light. It can be seen as a sort of surveillance in a sense. Its effect on society can be easily compared to Michel Foucault’s social theory Panopticism. In his book, Discipline and Punishment, he draws upon Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon, and creates it in a more figurative sense. The idea behind the panopticon is to create a prison where the prisoners are constantly monitored. The way this is accomplished, it through a carefully designed layout where prisoners surrounded a central watch tower. This watch tower had clear visibility of each prisoner cell. The purpose was to create this idea that “visibility is a trap” (Foucault 200). This idea means that the prisoners are essentially trapped in the vision of the guard. Assume the goal of the prisoner is to escape, then a major component of a successful escape is being caught. Prisoners are likely to get caught if the guard is aware of their escape, hence the vision. This is a deterrent for prisoners to misbehave or escape by simply the fear of getting caught. If punished correctly, the ultimate goal is a prisoner system with fully compliant prisoners. Further expanding on this idea, it is important to note that the illusion of visibility is enough, “to induce in the inmate a state of conscious and permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power” (Foucault 201). When the prisoners come to fear the visibility, they have to be aware of when they are watched, and if they are unsure they can never be certain when they are being looked at.

            Now social media is essentially modern day Panopticism. Compare the current social media situation, one of constant posting and monitoring, with Foucault’s Panopticism. Except each user of social media is both prisoner and guard. He/she is equal parts the watcher and the watched. Modern society has lead social media to become a place of expression, for some the main place of expression. With this in mind, people choose what best represents themselves, and what other people would like. Put this in terms of Panopticism. The images are quotes that best represent themselves are similar to the prisoner always behaving. The need to please others is the similar to the prisoner appeasing the guard when being watched. Social media is interesting in this way because people always want to put the best show of themselves to support this idea that they are the best versions of themselves. This can only be done by acting this way the whole time, as the poster never knows who will see the post which is extremely similar to the prisoner not knowing when he/she is being watched. In this modern setting, visibility is still a trap.