Jordan Ashby
Image One: The Power of
Politics and the Panopticon (Chuck, 2007)
It’s amazing the amount of power one virtual network can
obtain through the use of world practice. “Power relationships are the
foundation of society, as institutions and norms are constructed to fulfill the
interested and values of those in power” (Castells, 2011). Although power may
come as an advantage to most citizens the disadvantages still arise and
sometimes outweigh most positives. The concerns are “with having great power
does come great responsibility” (Lunderg,2012), and those who have power
generally use it for their own purposes and their own gains not looking at all
factors that may have detrimental effects conceivably changing the paths of
nature, which were found to be explained further in the readings last week with
the Panopticon effect which can be explained further in Moya K. Mason’s
Foucault and his panopticon reading.
Virtual networks allow for a combination of virtual reality
worlds to be connected “one can say anything to anyone” (Turkle, 1995), and for
this assessment between weeks 3 and 6 I choose to focus on Instagram. I joined
Instagram which is a social media site allowing for photos to be posted and
critiqued upon. A clear majority of people are found to have this social media
network.
Over the years being on Instagram helped with understanding
the diversity of power and who has it and who doesn’t. Never really focusing on
the elements of power until now. Instagram is a social domain “manipulating and
sharing photos with friends and followers” (Miles, n/a), but without the views
or likes what really do you get out of it. Having an area to contribute some of
your greatest memories was what drew me to Instagram but when I realised that
whether I had 1,000 followers or only 300 I would probably still get the same
amount of likes for the same photos posted but those ‘internet sensations’ or
‘beauty bloggers’ who get paid to post would get 10,000 likes. It all depends
on whether you have the brand. It truly is like the big brother effect, there
is one person in control posting the photos that will get the attention of
those around, but it’s us the people liking it or following it that are the
minions in this big mind control game.
Like Foucault theory explains that whether we aren’t or are being
watched the person in power always has to have their game faces on because one
wrong move and their control may be over. When you think about it Instagram is
a hard arena to be in some people may never be able to post what they want or
feel because it may attract a negative persona. From this point on I will be
keeping a close eye on Instagram and will have a completely different outlook on it. Instagram definitely is an empowering network in a disempowering world.
References
Castells, M. (2011). A
Network Theory of Power. Retrieved from https://faculty.georgetown.edu/irvinem/theory/Castells-Network-Power-2011.pdf
Lundberg, A. (2013). BA1002: Our space: Networks, narratives
and the making of place, lecture 2: Power. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au
Chuck. (2007). The
Power of Politics and the Panopticon. Retrieved from http://thenewhydra.blogspot.com.au/2007/04/power-of-politics-and-panopticon.html
Mason, Moya K. (n/a). Foucault and His Panopticon. Retrieved
from http://www.moyak.com/papers/michel-foucault-power.html
Turkle, Shelly. (1995). Life
on the screen. Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/jorda/Desktop/BA1002/Subject%20Materials/Readings/Panopticon%20(1).pdf
Bentham, Jeremy. (1798). Panopticon. Retrieved from https://www.utilitarianism.com/panopticon.html
No comments:
Post a Comment