18 FEB 2010
It's been a quarter of a century since the re-emergence on film, of George Orwells novel1984. The story exposed that generation to the perils of "Big Brother", by social classing and cameras and microphones in homes monitoring our every move. Ironically today many homes have a camera and a microphone connected to the world wide web but we are "safe" because we control what is sent to the outside world .... or do we? I have worked in the technology industry and it would be easy to embed a miniature video camera sensor inside a big screen TV? Who would notice a couple of pixels in the corner of one of those 58 inch High Def babies. Eventually we could all have them and they'll be connected to the internet because thats where we will get all our TV shows and movies on demand.
This may seem scary but there's an alternative threat and it is emerging from within our youth society, very possibly covertly implemented by governments, and collectively coined as Social Networking over the internet. These insidious applications and sites are addicting the next generation to a life of sharing and exposing even the most personal events, ideas and private images to the world! The implications are very scary because before todays teenagers know it they have provided authorities and marketers with a complete profile of their life, down to the products they like and their social links and leanings.
In recent weeks a school has been in the news because students were making cyber threats on facebook amongst themselves but aimed at teachers. This may have only been banter between students and not direct threats to individuals, but the school yard banter and bagging of teachers (that has gone on since the dawn of time) is now being overheard by the world! and acted upon.
Social networking in digital has been instrumental in getting us communicating with each other more but truth be known we don't have that much positive and constructive conversation within us and the ability to keep talking to one another 24/7 means we end up talking rubbish and talking for the sake of talking. This can lead down a nasty path of bitching and taunting and negativity.
The only way to combat this phenomenon is to teach our kids to retain some mystery and not expose everything about themselves, and that old chestnut from Bambi "if you haven't got something good to say then say nothing at all".
