INTRODUCTION: The digital age has invaded our lives in many ways. If I were to tell somebody that digital technology has thwarted the privacy of our lives that person would probably say tell me something I don’t know. My question is why doesn’t anyone care. What has happened in our society to make people accept the assault on their personal lives and roll over to the government and big corporations? I think that there are many reasons why people don’t seem to care. For one there has been a bombardment of advertising since the 1950s. People have been told that the corporations are their friends. Just keep buying and buying and everything will be fine. It’s brainwashing, but instead of electro shock and water boarding its fraudulent companies and faulty email. I believe that people have given in to these invasions because the intellect of the world has decreased. People no longer care about being educated outside the realm of basic and work pertinent knowledge.
Argument 1: A disturbing fact is that the government starts tracking and invading people’s privacy starting from when they are very young. A Fordham law school study reported that “32% of states warehouse children’s social security numbers; at least 22% of states record student pregnancies; and at least 46% of the states track mental health, illness, and jail sentences as part of the children’s educational records. Some states outsource the data processing without any restrictions on use or confidentiality for children’s information. Access to this information and the disclosure of personal data may occur for decades and follow children well into their adult lives” (privacy.org). This goes to show that people start to loose their privacy starting when they are young and continuing on into their adult lives. Having this lack of privacy starting from a young age starts a mentality of accepting these invasions and these attacks on our liberties.
The mind of a young person is very easy to manipulate and tracking children on every aspect of their lives is beneficial to the government and corporations because if the government can make people accept being watched from a young age, being monitored, and being constantly judged, young people will give up on caring about protecting themselves from the invaders and those who want to obstruct their lives with attacks on their civil liberties. Furthermore the government’s use of tracking has contributed to a feeling of decreased expectations. These decreased expectations have led to an overall decrease in learning in the school system.
Argument 2: The most common form of communication in the modern age is emailing. According to the Radicati Group there are over 1.3 billion email users worldwide. People display their most personal and private secrets over email. Email is also extremely easy to hack. According to the Washington Post after being nominated the Republican parties vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin had her personal yahoo account hacked. Most people however wouldn’t know that because it was one of the least covered stories of the 2008 election. It wasn’t covered because people have shown that they don’t care about having their emails read. Having your email hacked has become a way of existence. There are websites dedicated to hacking email, people only have to pay 100 dollars to have someone hack an email and give them the password to their account. The punishment for these crimes is very minimal. At most someone could end up doing misdemeanor computer crime charges, which result in small sentences. Even if the government were to increase sentencing for computer crimes it wouldn’t do much good; most of the websites created for hacking email are based outside the United States therefore out of U.S. law enforcement jurisdiction.
The most curious part about all this email hacking is how there is no evidence to show that email use is decreasing. People continue to flaunt their personal lives all over the internet via email even though there is a great chance that there email will be read. People are giving in to this violation of their life because they would rather have a quick censored life rather than a slower private life. We are all hooked on internet speed. A technological junkie of sorts; if we’re all hooked on technology then we are all just slaves to the grind. It is a fact that people love to do things they’re not support to (especially Americans). The United States has the highest rates of cocaine and cannabis use in the world (sciencedaily.com). If we as Americans want to continue this illicit lifestyle then we certainly can’t be detailing our exploits through email.
Argument 3: The use of effective advertising has contributed to the digital brainwashing of Americans. If someone wants a perfect example of how advertising has brainwashed people take a look at the Marlboro man. The advertising campaign that took a cigarette company to legendary status. First of all just getting people to smoke is a market miracle. Taking a product that smells bad, tastes bad, and will kill you and then getting people to use it is a perfect example of how easily manipulated people are. Industries like to start advertising early and often. Generally advertisers like to go for the young minds because they are easier to mold. According to the American Psychological Association (APA) “Research shows that children under the age of eight are unable to critically comprehend televised advertising messages and are prone to accept advertiser messages as truthful, accurate and unbiased”. As shown by this quote advertising to young children can put their minds in a place where they are more willing to accept what corporations tell them and are less likely to push back against advertising.
If advertising can get children into a place where they believe everything they hear then they’re not going to stand up against a government that wants to invade every aspect of your life. The intellectual curiosity will diminish and the aspirations for un-censored freedom will die right along with it. Advertising is putting people in an imagination land where nothing bad ever happens as long as your consumption keeps up your life will be nothing put excellent. When in reality advertising has brought them nothing but bad. Sending bank account numbers to fictitious lotteries or having colleges expel you because of photos on facebook or Google reading your gmail. That is all that has come from digital advertising.
Significance: I think that this topic is significant because it involves the future of our country and our civil liberties. I think that it’s also very significant in that it’s a topic that isn’t discussed too often. There is a clear relationship between digital and the elimination of privacy and I think that I’ve tried to point that out using evidence and examining some of the aspects of modern American life. The major point that I was trying to get across is why doesn’t anyone take a stand for their personal freedoms, and what is the reason for their lack of interest?
Conclusion: In conclusion I think that people have stopped caring about keeping their privacy because they have been brainwashed so much that there isn’t much to care about anymore. People have been told to just consume believe everything you hear and do it as quickly and easily as possible. The ideas of the counter culture may have been killed by the 1970s but I think that the revolutionary spirit of Americans died with it. There has been no public outrage over such treasons as the Patriot Act or the abuses of the intelligence community. Most people probably believe that none of those things will affect them at all but the truth is it does affect everyone. The government now has more control over our lives than ever and there is no response. The end of a revolutionary era indeed.