Panopticism

Imagine a world in which you were constantly being watched, not just when people are around but every moment of your life. Would things change? Would you act the same as if you were not being watched? I did not think so, when you are being watched or even get that feeling of being watched you no longer do things the same because you know that you are being judged and observed and make a conscious effort to appear in your own ideal way. This world that you are imagining right now does exist in many different concepts one being facebook. The whole idea of acting differently while knowing one is being watched was put into place with Faucoult’s panopticon prison lay out. Faucoult realized that with people knowing that they are being watched they would self-discipline themselves.

Michael Faucoult came up with the concept of a self-disciplinary prison system. How this idea worked was that there was a tower in the center of the building where all of the guards stayed and the cells that held the prisoners were surrounding it. Because of the mere fact that the prisoners knew that they were constantly being watched or at least had the possibility of being watched they changed their behaviors and acted in more appropriate ways compared to when a prison is laid out the traditional way of rows upon rows and only being checked up on when the guards do their rounds. This traditional way is also not as effective because the prisoners can change their behavior for the momentary time that the guard is passing by. This concept also saves on other security costs. With panopticonism also comes with the idea of disindividualization, this idea is one where power is not held in the hands of one person or one group, but in everyone. One place that this is very evident is facebook.

Facebook is a newer concept that developed within the last decade or so and has gone viral ever since. In today’s society is it very rare to find someone who does not have a facebook account. Facebook is an online profile of yourself that can be viewed by anyone on the internet, depending on your privacy settings. Facebook is a perfect example of an everyday panopticon because it is a very self-disciplinary tool. Facebook is self-disciplinary is the sense that you know that all of your friends, family, acquaintances, and sometimes even strangers can see everything that you have on your profile. In a sense they are seeing you and everything you say, do, and “like”. Knowing that others can see these things act a certain way & changes who you are in a slight way. You never act the same when you are alone compared to when you are watched. This is because you know that you are being watched and judged and nobody liked to be seen in a negative way, therefore whenever possible they put their best foot forward and make themselves seem as “perfect” as they can.

Facebook is also a perfect example of disindividualising because it is not just one person that has power over what is the norm it is everyone on facebook that has power. It is the majority of the population that decides what is right and wrong and what is normal and what is not. Also, unless the social norms of a society change then the effects of facebook/the panopticon will always be the same, hence the “house of certainly” that Foucault talks about. The ‘house of certainty” merely means that the guidelines of the panopticon will always be the same & you know that it will always work, you no longer need back-ups or extra security because this is the way the world fits and balances. Self-awareness is so important to people that they change how they would do anything to make themselves seem better than they actually are.

            There are so many other factors that one could take into account when analyzing how facebook is a modern day panopticon but that would make this a much larger paper. To get the just of it all one needs to know is that facebook is a place in which you are always seen, even when you don’t know you are being seen, same as the panopticon jail. It also creates power upon everyone instead of one specific person and everyone becomes much more self-aware, making them want to present themselves in an unrealistic and idealist manner. Panopticism is a perfect way to create self-discipline among society without even letting them fully know what is happening.