Where are we going? Thoughts on Snapchat’s Spectacle’s
I think designers of any stripe at some point face an ethical dilemma. A dilemma of will this be a good or a bad thing for the world. Whether it’s putting a pull plate on a push door or building the atomic bomb we have a decision to make. Snapchat has recently made an ethical decision to release their new line of eyewear that lets users record and share what they see from an eye perspective.
As a designer I see several pros and cons to this type of technology. While I’ve always dreamt of being able to put a camera into my eye, I’m nervous about constantly being recorded without my permission. In order to understand this new idea I’m going to walk through what I see as the positives and negatives to advancing tech in this direction.
The Pros
From a UX perspective these are a great way to engage Snapchat users in a new and fun way. By modifying an existing behavior Snapchat has allowed people a new perspective. The medium of the hand held device has become too cumbersome. That’s the beauty of this design… the pure simplicity of it. How many moments are lost in trying to find or pull out your phone to take a picture or video?
Beyond the tech, the actual style of these glasses lend well to this type of tech. I think most people can agree that Google glass, while super advanced, was lacking in style and beauty. Snapchat has made a beautiful object that super users will wear everyday.
There is another pro that leads into cons here. While the spectacles only record ten seconds and the light array on the front lets people know you’re filming them, one could very easily and stealthily record people without their knowledge. See a fight happening near by, a traffic accident or police brutality? Forget that old phone in your pocket… simply press record. In theory one could be recording through the spectacles almost all day. Where do we draw the line of privacy and what are we willing to accept in terms of surveillance, whether from the government or our fellow citizens?
Want to share that excellent bathroom break? No Problem. Want to post your co-workers inadvertent racism? Great! Want to casually stalk that cute barista? We can do that….
The Cons
Surveillance, privacy and technology is one of the most pressing issues in the world today. Both President Elect Trump and his recently defeated opposition Hillary Clinton have said that cyber security is a huge problem. While the Snapchat spectacles are an advancement in tech that many people have been waiting for, there could also be huge problems. Everything from recording without someone’s permission to actually hacking the device and taking someone’s content to be used in a negative way.
First let’s talk security. First and foremost the spectacles use Bluetooth. Bluetooth is pretty easy to hack at this point so the spectacles could be considered a weak point. A clever hacker or government official could jump in via Bluetooth, turn off the LED’s that indicate you’re recording and just have fun watching your life or the people around you. That great bathroom break you had earlier, not so great when it gets posted to youtube by someone who hates you. This cascades into the larger conversation of privacy.
I’ve asked this question before and I’ll ask it again. What is privacy? In our world of social media, technology and communication privacy has changed. When we decided that is was ok for Google to scan your emails in order to get free email we made a choice. We decided that privacy as we knew it wasn’t necessary. Communication was more important. We’re over a decade since the Gmail decision and privacy continues to warp in an Orwellian fashion.
The spectacles represent a new era in privacy. Privacy will be determined not by the space we physically hold but by the space we choose to not engage with technology. Sadly or greatly depending on how you look at it the spaces where technology will be absent are greatly decreasing. Unless you plan on living in a very rural area and not using a phone, computer, the internet or a camera you’re kind of out of luck.
“Where are we going?” is the question I pose in the title of this article. Having grown up with computers and books like “1984” by George Orwell it’s a hard question to answer. As a photo buff I’ve literally had dreams about being able to capture what my eye sees. These glasses allow me to do that. However I never thought we’d come so close to Orwell’s concept of the future. The difference is that Big Brother doesn’t need to do the watching. We do it ourselves.
