Communication Assignment 2022

COMMUNICATION

TABLE OF CONTENTS
OPTION B.......................................................................................................................................1
Overview of panoptic theory.......................................................................................................1
Relationship of social media and panopticon..............................................................................2
Impact of panopticism.................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

OPTION B
This paper shows how media effects are useful to navigate the converging
communication practices of public and professional lives. With globalization and technological
advancements, there is a wide range of channels that are used to interact both in physical and
nonphysical manner. This visibility led to transformational changes at public, private and
professional lives of individuals. The organizational culture and the corporate business sector
have been benefitted in the most effective manner by enforcing the ideology of panopticon with
accuracy and reliability (Galič, Timan and Koops, 2017). People from different professionals and
walks of lives have bridged the gaps and made the society as a whole to lead a more disciplined
and controlled surroundings. It has led to the improvement of the abilities to store, monitor,
review, send and easy flow of information. Here, the social media impact on the psychological
minds have been considered to assess the overall scenarios and the.
Overview of panoptic theory
This is the conceptual model where a systematic control is exhibited that was proposed
by Jeremy Bentham. The word “panopticon” is derived from a Greek word meaning “all seeing”.
The basic architecture involves extraction of labour from the diseased or disabled individuals
who has been discarded from the society due to some abnormal activities (Lyon, 2016). It was
mainly outlined for the prisoners to make them more civilized and socially responsible by
creating the atmosphere that they were watched all the times. However, they were watched by a
single security guard and it was humanly impossible for keeping a strict monitoring on all the
cell inmates (Nelson and Grubesic, 2018). Moreover, it was adopted to make the irresponsible
environment into a more confined, controlled with the barricade of an institutional building.
This panopticism had been reshaped in relevance towards the current situation where the
constant surveillance by the Social media is directly regulating it and enforcing an indirect push
on the users. An understanding must be built between the central location and the visual
contemporary types in the form of both data driven and digital. Here the central location is the
social media to establish the asymmetrical exposure between knowing the communication
interchangeability aspects between the real-life based practices in any sector (Timan, Galič and
Koops, 2017). Furthermore, the surveillance technology is also closely associated components
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that have put an undivided sense of responsibility among people when using different social
media platforms.
Relationship of social media and panopticon
It is clearly indicative that there is a similarity between social media and panopticon.
With the advancement of technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, big data etc., there is also a
sudden rise of social mediums like Facebook, twitter, Instagram that has been evolved with
attached complexities. This aids in keeping an eye on millions of people at a time where the
common people are unaware about it and continuing using it for recreational or educational
purposes (Couch, Han, Robinson and Komesaroff, 2015). One has the feeling regarding the
number of likes, tweets or comments because of constant interferences and a continual ignorance
despite its visibility that is present on various applications or websites.
In today's modern world, data is referred as the new oil. Every country or multinational
company is now trying to preserve the data or exchange of data from other countries or
companies in some other location. Such big data of users has definitely helped in knowing their
likes and behavioural approaches to promote or advertise specific products (Manokha, 2018). It
has also supported in moulding public opinions which can change the results of any big events
like election or riots and thus, the available data on social media is extremely important in
keeping, storing, distributing and observing the complex algorithm. The theory has made the
social media with its features and is mainly based on the core principles (Meredith, 2012). For
instance, the public are mostly clueless about knowing how or when they are being watched.
They are under constant watch in order to attract to the specific products or websites by having a
check on every move like the most commonly surfed websites. This observation was also
mentioned in the famous book of George Orwell 1984 (Turpin, 2018).
However, panopticon experiment was made to make an individual into a better person
overall to bring positive changes for the society. In the similar terms, social media has also
assisted the public to be aware of the upcoming events, ongoing critical issues and other
activities which has benefitted the entire community (Stoycheff, Liu, Xu and Wibowo, 2019).
For example, #metoo was one of the remarkable movements that started trending on the global
social media platform called Twitter. It brought women from different generations, professions,
locations and situations who shared the horrific stories of discrimination and sexual harassment
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cases. It helped many women to come out and speak which made the people understand by
analysing and reviewing to make the society a better place to live. Such events made the
Banthem’s principle adaptable in today’s context also that clearly determine its features of giving
a tangent viewpoint of a 360 degrees view without the physical presence and further progresses
in utopian standards.
Additionally, it has also emphasized on positive sides of this theory’s observation where
the known researchers are using data to help people with giving authentic information and other
details of diseases such as heart attack, cancers etc. or any other discoveries. Further, LinkedIn is
another platform in helping people to improve their professional networking irrespective of their
profession or industry. Such platforms made the data to be helpful for the people to get jobs and
have a drawback where the people might get spammed or any other unforeseen situation
(Romele et.al., 2017). However, one must know that a coin has two faces and so is any
theoretical concept and one must be wise to use it for their own good. Using social media is the
need of the hour to stay ahead in both personal and professional lives but gaining an insights
about drawing the lines on its utility is individual centric. Lastly, in addition to these, the
surveillance aspect must also be kept in mind while using its features for better outcomes.
Impact of panopticism
This conceptual framework paved the principle of making the power into two variables
such as visibility and unverifiable element. Both the variables are the pillars of the institutional
building that assist in exercising power and also inducing a permanent visibility with a state of
conscious (Tjerk Timan, Maša Galič & Bert-Jaap Koops, 2017). In regard to the above, while
using any social media platforms, here the general public are being looked upon on a constant
basis without directly making them realizing about it. This also reflects upon the unverifiable
nature of the core objective of Bentham’s principle. The power lies in the hands of the social
media regulators who are now controlling the content that is available on a click away by the
audience of varied ages (Manning and Stern, 2018). This step is crucial in data handling and
information dissipation under the legal aspects to avoid any mishappenings or unwarranted
situational crisis. For instance, Facebook’s Mark apologised for his ideological promise to the
millions of users after the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica secretive tricks got
unmasked. Nevertheless, it also highlighted the dystopian effects of the panopticism that is
circulating a vicious cycle and affecting the health of people (Timan, Galič and Koops, 2017).
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Herein the onset of technological changes acted as the driving factor for the
establishment of post panoptic society. With easy availability of several software, channels and
platforms and its widespread reach and applicability has pushed the boundaries for the
surveillance aspects as well. The control capacity has been expanded through the practices of
dataveillance which allowed the observant to inspect, monitor and supervise the content (Sadi
and Clive, 2017). Such scrutiny is essential in making the control more robust and integrated for
better transparency and making the surroundings amiable for today’s time. With free services
that are available online brought radical changes in the ways of communication between people,
companies and countries at the worldwide levels (Hyslop-Margison and Rochester, 2016). It has
become an indispensable part in an individual’s life and is impacting on the psychological levels.
There are number of transformational changes on daily basis in terms of reorienting the
institutions, financial related events and more (Manning and Stern, 2018). Therefore, the impact
is beyond any limits and is infinitely moving towards progression with few deviations. Such
deviations must be redirected to gain an economic benefit and fetch the attention in optimistic
mode for better connectivity and improved levels of interaction.
To sum up, this panopticism theoretical concept has given insights on social media
effects and its influencing capacity on the public. The increased levels of dependency by the
public have made the regulations and the concerned authorities to be more vigilant while
handling the content available online and during streamlining as well. In addition, it has also
shed light that the social media has the ability to affect several people at a time from different
geographical locations and demographics as well. This collective aspect is the combination of
panopticism and the triggering impact of technology and digitalization world (Carey, 2018).
Alongside, it has also the ability to put a systematic control on the activities without their
knowledge through inculcating a sense of fear with the hope of making them disciplined.
Therefore, it can be stated that social media is the most beneficial panoptic enforcer by the help
of implementing a set of strategies under voluntary frameworks.
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REFERENCES
Carey, T.L., 2018. A Tightrope of Perfection: The Rhetoric and Risk of Black Women’s
Intellectualism on Display in Television and Social Media. Rhetoric Society Quarterly, 48(2),
pp.139-160.
Couch, D., Han, G.S., Robinson, P. and Komesaroff, P., 2015. Public health surveillance and the
media: A dyad of panoptic and synoptic social control. Health Psychology and Behavioral
Medicine, 3(1), pp.128-141.
Galič, M., Timan, T. and Koops, B.J., 2017. Bentham, Deleuze and beyond: An overview of
surveillance theories from the panopticon to participation. Philosophy & Technology, 30(1),
pp.9-37.
Hyslop-Margison, E. and Rochester, R., 2016. Assessment or Surveillance? Panopticism and
Higher Education. Philosophical Inquiry in Education, 24(1), pp.102-109.
Lyon, D., 2016. Surveillance, liquidity and the ethics of visibility. Revue internationale de
philosophie, (3), pp.365-379.
Manning, J. and Stern, D.M., 2018. Heteronormative bodies, queer futures: Toward a theory of
interpersonal panopticism. Information, Communication & Society, 21(2), pp.208-223.
Manokha, I., 2018. Surveillance, panopticism, and self-discipline in the digital age. Surveillance
& Society, 16(2), pp.219-237.
Nelson, J. and Grubesic, T., 2018. Environmental Justice: A Panoptic Overview Using
Scientometrics. Sustainability, 10(4), p.1022.
Romele, A., Gallino, F., Emmenegger, C. and Gorgone, D., 2017. Panopticism is not enough:
Social media as technologies of voluntary servitude. Surveillance & Society, 15(2), pp.204-221.
Sadi, S. and Clive, S., 2017. Performance Management As Panopticism: Embedding
Intellectually Repressive Conditions In Academia.
Stoycheff, E., Liu, J., Xu, K. and Wibowo, K., 2019. Privacy and the Panopticon: Online mass
surveillance’s deterrence and chilling effects. New Media & Society, 21(3), pp.602-619.
Timan, T., Galič, M. and Koops, B.J., 2017. Surveillance theory and its implications for law. The
Oxford Handbook of Law, Regulation, and Technology, Oxford: Oxford UP, pp.731-753.
Turpin, A., 2018. Interface: Intrapersonal Implications of the Feedback Network.
Meredith, M. J., (2012). Strategic communication and social media: An MBA course from a
business communication perspective. Business Communication Quarterly, 75(1), 89-95.
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