Channeling Orwell: How to Spot a Telescreen.

Veng Raimz
Sep 9, 2018 · 6 min read

It is amazing how protective some parents in the 25–40 set are of their kids’ physical safety and simultaneously not protective of themselves, their privacy, or their kids’ data privacy or security. In turn the kids seem to enter adulthood having no sense of privacy rights, or of the value that comes from every member of society having a strong element of anonymity to their lives, whether they’re walking down a street or sitting at their kitchen table.

Because of this, I wonder if smartphones and social media might be two of the worst things to ever befall humanity, not two of the best things as nearly every talking head idiot assures us. Their potential for harm is visibly greater than their potential for good, especially in the less civil political environments we see worldwide right now. Most pressingly they can erode privacy and data security, and most annoyingly they degrade our social norms / amplify our worst social tendencies.

But there is a third technology arriving now that may prove to be the worst of the lot. If trends hold, personal IOT devices — with a side-helping of machine learning on the other side of the cloud — will further erode our digital security and privacy rights. Worst of all: we’re doing this to ourselves. We seem to have forgotten the most important lessons from both our history books and fictional books like 1984. We are so busy gossip-scanning and clamoring for validation on FarceBook, TwitSpit, SnapCrap, and InstaNoise that we are not seeing the Forrest through the trees.

Is it possible that over the course of a couple decades, by constantly distracting ourselves with an endless stream of digital crapola, we’ve forgotten some of the lessons that come from critical reading and critical thinking… that we’ve stripped ourselves of the societal literacy and context needed to recognize a dangerous situation when we see it? I believe it is not only possible but likely.


Do people ever stop and ask themselves why they need a smartphone, 5 different social accounts, 32 different phone apps…and now IOT? Do they stop and ask themselves if the presence of these things in their life is adding, not removing complexity (as relentlessly advertised)? Maybe I’m being cynical but it doesn’t seem like many people question this stuff, even well educated people. It’s amazing that humanity has survived as well as it has, despite our lemming-like tendencies to do stupid shit.

Forget about needs and wants: is it truly useful on a problem-solving level to own a “smart device” that talks to our phone, car, apps — whatever — to do things for us that we could easily do ourselves in 30 seconds or less? Is there anything dangerous about it on a societal level? Even something as simple as losing some aspect of self-reliance and/or gaining in laziness?

Even the tech widely touted as “for good” — like IOT thermostat systems — are overrated. Yes, they can ensure our homes use less energy while we’re at work (good for the environment and saving money) and which bring things back to the right level when we arrive home. And so can damn-near every digital thermostat ever made, going back to the early 90s. They’re programmable and require no more time to set up than a new IOT wall sensor with LED-gasm technology. Which reminds me…

Spaceship simulator? LED’s make ’em hot? Or stupid gimmick. You be the judge.

Let’s consider another “for the good” IOT solution that is commonly advertised. It is now possible to build a pantry and/or fridge which are aware of “stock levels” of your favorite food stuffs and either remind you to buy some (or connect to your grocery story app to buy it directly). Or — let’s get crazy — you can open the damn pantry and fridge, look around for 15 seconds, then scratch a few items down on a post-it, stick it to your keys or wallet, so the next time you walk out the door you remember to go buy that stuff on your way home. Or punch that list into your smartphone reminder app. Done.

Meantime you cut down on the massive network of companies that are in bed with each other, trying to squeeze and share every bit of information out of your personal life they can find. Every time you say no to this crap, you’re saying yes to better protecting your privacy and your life (not in the death sense, in the being sense).


People give away their personal habits and information (read: privacy rights) like they have no value. Or at the very least, less value than “wow look at this cool thing I have!” Doesn’t matter if it’s the EULA for a social app, CCTV cameras on street lamps, or something else. The 35-and-under set scare the shit out of me in this respect. Specifically this gem: “well, if you haven’t done anything wrong, then you shouldn’t care if all your information and habits are shared by a bunch of companies or the government,” — what the hell is that?? Seriously. What is that?? Massive parent-fail on that one! Fuck me silly, Sally. If you’re into free societies and boring stuff like that, the above attitude is ignorance incarnate and should be corrected post-haste!

If we as a society don’t start questioning things and pushing back on some of these EULA traps and invasive practices, we’re all going to pay the price. And once a society crosses that threshold, hands over the last of its freedom it’s over. The writing is already on the wall but few people seem to give a shit.

I feel like we’re a society full of Forrest Gumps and Jenny is every commercial actor out there who wants all of our information (and who pretty much owns half of every western government by virtue of election money and lobbyists). “OKAY JENNEH, AH GESS YOU CAN HAVE JUST A LITTLE MO’ INFAMATION, JUS’ ONE MO’ TIME. THEM EL EE DEEZ AH SO PRETTY. LIKE YOU, JENNEH.”

If you’ve read 1984 and think about what that world was like (in terms of surveillance and knowledge of people’s lives), and then think about all of our devices, social platforms, and apps in terms of having the capability to enable bad actors, what’s worse… Orwell’s telescreens on the walls, or all of the crap that follows us everywhere we go, on our person, in our homes, in our cars? Which tech environment can more easily be used to exploit people?

Bottom line: the devices and apps we choose to use (and whose terms we blindly choose to abide by) matter, because they collectively will dictate what the world looks like in a few years. So, what do you intend to do about it?


A Pragmatic ‘Sidebar’

Even if you fully trust every corporation and government that wants your info and habits and are confident it’s all leading to a better society, consider this: when our thermostat / microwave / refrigerator / whatever has new chips, scanners, and voice systems inside to add this kind of functionality, not only is it more expensive, there are now many more things that can go wrong with the device — things that will at some point require a repair service or warranty replacement hassle that otherwise would not have happened.

Are you givin’ me a hassle, man?