The more I read “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism,” the less sure I am that the technological advancements of the last fifteen to twenty years have been convenient—at least if one defines convenience as “making life easier.” To be sure, the rise of email, instant messaging, and social media has allowed us to communicate with each other more quickly and across a broader geographical range than ever before, but as a consequence, we have all begun to expect each other to be “online” all the time. Because modern communication devices allow us to send and reply to messages at virtually any time and in virtually any place, we now find it inexcusable that someone could choose to turn said device off for a few hours. This level of availability was impossible in the age of the corded phone because it would be infeasible to never leave one’s home or place of work. The cellphone, inversely, allows us to be “at home” or “at work” no matter where we physically happen to be. In my view, this inability to truly be alone is inconvenient.

Another inconvenient—and even more horrifying—aspect of modern technology is the inability to be forgotten, or to have our private lives truly remain private. Zuboff discusses this extensively. Prior to the Internet age, one could simply throw away an embarrassing photo or burn a salacious letter. Now, hackers, revenge-seekers, and garden variety creeps can surreptitiously record and save our most intimate or humiliating moments and upload them to websites, where they are accessible to anyone with WiFi? until the end of time. American law, both at the state and federal level, has been woefully slow to combat this. “Revenge pornography” and, more recently, AI-generated nude images are not criminalized in every state, nor are they criminalized at the federal level. Meanwhile, victims around the country are losing their jobs, being ostracized by their community, and, in some cases, committing suicide.

Yes, social media and smartphone apps have given us the freedom to cheaply communicate with people overseas, set alarms and calendar reminders all in one place, and write checks without needing a pen, but they also subjugate us all by existing within a legal libertarian hellscape in which they operate virtually free from regulation or accountability.

-- LauraBane - 03 Oct 2024