Panopticism and Facebook

With the rise of the Internet and the increasing influence of the networking sites it plays host to, it seems as though our image is constantly being presented in the public domain. This recent observance is closely intertwined with a concept we discussed in class earlier this week: panopticism.

According to Foucault, panopticism describes the process by which a subject acts as if someone is watching him or her at all times. Essentially, we constantly have the impression that we are under someone else’s gaze, and our actions are in turn affected by this belief. Panopticism, I believe, has only been perpetuated and exaggerated with the advent of these new networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace.

Earlier in the school year, my roommate made a comment about how ridiculous I looked in my then, most recent profile picture on Facebook. I personally found it amusing because I have a reputation for ruining pictures because of the strange and out of place faces I make. To me, I had never really cared about it because I had always found picture taking awkward so I always made light of the situation by making these faces. After my roommate had mentioned this, I proposed that we both look at the first several photos of ourselves on Facebook to get an idea of what a stranger or acquaintance would think when seeing them for the first time. After seeing nothing but pictures of me making bizarre faces, I realized how bat-shit crazy I must appear.

Though I would not put it past someone to think I am in fact, bat-shit crazy, it was the first time I became self conscious of my Facebook pictures, and the way I am portrayed by them. I even remember making a mental note to give a normal smile the next time a picture was taken of me because I knew there’s a great likelihood that it would end up on Facebook.

When I initially reflected on this discussion with my roommate under the theme of panopticism, I concluded that my decision to “give a normal smile” was the most prominent example of this concept. Now however, I realize that panopticism is evident even in the strange faces I make. In some way, my strange faces serve to present me as a person who embraces their “strangeness”, while also acknowledging the uncomfortability of having a picture taken. It could even be that by making a strange face I attempt to avoid a judgement one might make of me in a normal/serious photo. Though I do not actively think these things as they occur, they can very well be subconscious reactions to this feeling of constantly being observed. Either way, I will continue to make strange faces.