People Want to be Seen

The Panoptican Prison was designed to make the need for bars, guards, and any other security tactics obsolete. A tower with bright lights on top blinded the surrounding rows of cells. The lights were so big and bright that the prisoners in the cells could not tell if any one was actually in the tower, whether or not someone left the tower, and hindered the prisoners from seeing into other cells. Essentially, prisoners could not tell if or when they were being watched.

Foucault relates this same concept in his article “Panopticism” directly to our society. People tend to act like they are always being watched. As a person, you have to decide whether you are the seen or the see-er. As a result, the seen behaves like they are always on camera. They change their behavior that makes them appear in a more favorable light. The power the Panoptican instills in the seen creates a fear that forces them to alter their behavior. Focault writes, “But the Panoptican was also a laboratory; it could be used as a machine to carry out experiments, to alter behaviour, to train or correct individuals” (pp. 66-67). If people assume they are always being watched, their bad behavior will disappear and we will be left with better people.

Although the Panoptican may change behaviors, it also creates a society where people think they don’t exist unless they are on film. For example, when you go vacationing and don’t take pictures do you feel bad? Do you feel like you missed out? Images actually classify reality, in particular how people should behave. Furthermore, images classify reality. For example, everyone you go you need a photo ID. The image gives us reality. The picture on the ID is you, you are legal to drive, drink, etc. If you lose the identification, you essentially don’t exist because you can’t do anything.

Focault gives us the idea of Panopticism, but it leads to today’s society obsessed with wanting to be watched. Youtube.com is a way people can post videos and see how many people view them. The recently popular chatroulette.com created another channel for even more people to become the seen. The Panoptican may be a utopian ideal, but it’s not perfect because creates people who are obsessed with images and being seen. Instead, people should be concerned with what is going on in the world rather than who in the world is watching them.