Context of Practice: Study Task 3

Having been asked to identify part of contemporary culture that I view as panoptic, I will be arguing that social media acts as a modern, virtual panopticon. The Panopticon is a building that Michel Foucault identified as an effective tool for a new mode of discipline. Proposed by Jeremy Bentham, it had a Rotunda design, with cells on the sides of the wall spanning several floors. Each cell is open from the front, and lit from the back by a window, and the individual inside the cell faces a central tower from where they can be supervised. 
Foucault states that 'in the peripheric ring, one is totally seen without ever seeing; in the central tower, one sees everything without ever being seen'. The individual in contemporary society simultaneously occupies the virtual peripheric ring, and the central tower whilst using social media.

In the peripheric ring, the individual in the cell is replaced by their online equivalent, the social media profile, which  '...Perfectly individualised and constantly visible'. Just as Foucault states that in the Panopticon 'the inmate must never know whether he is being looked at at any one moment', you are never aware of who may be viewing your posts, feed or profile from the so called Central Tower.

Whilst the individual is in their virtual cell, the central tower is occupied both by friends and acquaintances; whom you feel comfortable sharing information with, and also, unbeknownst to you, members of the public or figures of authority; employers, teachers, members of the public sector, those who you would prefer to not have access to your private life. This is where social media becomes more than a platform for social interaction, and instead your online presence can become something that incriminates you in more serious instances. Whilst the individual is 'seen but does not see' Employees can take advantage of your 'constantly visible' presence and could be tracking you on various social media platforms to ensure that nothing defamatory is said regarding them, and take disciplinary action against you should something negative be said. With this knowledge, you may begin to censor yourself, because as you are in 'a state of conscious and permanent visibility' and anxious that you are being permanently watched, you then permanently alter your behaviour just in case somebody is watching. You begin to internalise responsibility, and discipline yourself, as opposed to being traditionally disciplined by an authority.