Panopticism

In today's technology filled world privacy has become somewhat relative. With computers, cellphones, the internet, and youtube everyone is constantly connected every minute of every single day. This lack of privacy even extends to the government, which is constantly usurping rights and slowly taking away all of our right to privacy.

For instance camera surveillance has become an imperative part of security. Cameras are everywhere, at stop lights or tolls, or outside of buildings, or even looking over your neighborhood parks. The jobs of these cameras is to moniter the public and make sure all rules are being followed. They have their eye on us at all times, which is kinda creepy. However sometimes you may think you are being watched when actually you are not.

This is called panopticism, which stems from the prison design theory Panopticon. It creates the illusion of being observed and therefore makes the person behave accordingly. It therefore does not matter if you are actually being observed as long as the individual internalizes the belief that they are being watched. The government can than use dummy cameras or not actually watch the footage because the cameras are there basically for the effect. They make a person believe that they are being watched and the person will than follow the rules because they do not want to get caught.