Controlled Socially
Surveillance has a big presence socially throughout the internet. Alot of our conversations with some of our most closest friends and family are public information, yet the internet makes the way we communicate so easy. Kashmir Hill mentions that “Google, Apple, and Facebook provide my rolling Rolodex.” This reminds me of how we use to have a little black book, or how my dad still has Address/Phone book with almost every person he has ever met. He’s older and really does use tech as much so socially he limits himself to phone calls. As a regular everyday social tech user, I would not know how to go about even feeling like I am unable to make contact with anyone if I restricted myself on the tech supplies I used daily. Kashmir himself even found his week off challenging in communication aspects. He was limited on the ways he socially engaged. He was unable to zoom for his interview, and then had a hard time even sending the phone call recording. This would be similar to how social surveillance in classrooms work.
Social Surveillance in the Classroom
Looking from the lens of university students, wether undergrad or graduate level, a lot of communicating happens now through the web and theses large tech companies. This doesn’t leave much room for options for the students to say wether they want to engage with these resources or not. It’s almost mandatory to get great grades, and stay ahead of your studies. By default higher education students are subjected to being information for data collection. There are no aspects in the classroom when it comes to tech that are private. This is a good thing when it comes to tracking a tracing students activity. It also leave no room for students to make their own choice in what they choose to share. Social surveillance in classrooms are changing drastically, but with great reason.
Students Under Surveillance
The article https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/22/school-student-surveillance-bark-gaggle by Lois Beckett is similar to our topics from our articles this week. There are some controversial topics brought up within his article, it still does a good job of showing how schools are becoming more digitally aware of their students. They are taking great measures to truly show they are trying to keep students safe. With safety now being the for front, privacy has taken a back seat. Becketts article spoke more to those on grade school levels, which most will argue that we need to know what children are doing, because it is adults jobs to keep them safe.
Understanding Digital Survelliance
Everything comes with pros and cons, but it can cross boundaries if we are taking away basic human rights like privacy. With understanding digital literacy y we are Abel to make conscious decisions with the apps we chose to use and how we use them daily. Sometimes taking a social step back can be what we need, because it showed Kashmir how finding other sources that are not “watching you”, in a sense, are a bit more difficult to find and use. As humans we do have the right to say yes or no to these big tech companies, but this comes with he proper education on digital literacy. Truly understanding the fine print. I mentioned this in my previous blog post https://eng5045.chrisfriend.us/2023/09/13/reading-between-the-lines-of-the-fine-print/ .
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