Social Media is the New Big Brother
Have you ever found yourself wanting to or even actually buying an item you saw in a social media ad? I know I definitely have. I originally found social media ads distracting, but over time Instagram’s algorithm seemed to learn more about my preferences. I am now genuinely interested in each ad I see online. Sometimes, I even find myself more interested in the ads than in the actual posts from people I follow! Regardless of if I buy the advertised product or not, social media companies use my decisions to collect more information and strengthen their algorithm. Social media seems to hold a power over us, no matter how much we try to counter it.
The internet is constantly collecting information on its users in order to do things like create targeted advertisements and understand consumer preferences. The internet knows everything about us. As explained by Castells (2007), “power [is]… the structural capacity of a social actor to impose its will over other social actor(s),” and the internet and social media have an immense amount of power over their users — through advertisements, data collection, browsing histories, and even listening to our conversations. The government uses similar data, tracking our texts and calls to pick up any warning signs that could be a threat to others. It seems that there is an inverse relationship between Internet usage and the amount of privacy an individual has — how can we challenge the power of the Internet?
Counter-power is the capacity of a social actor to resist and challenge power relations that are institutionalized (Castells 2007). Social media can be a form of counter-power, when used as a tool for activists to gather online, organizing protests such as the storming of the Capitol building in January. People used social media to organize a protest that challenged the power relations of the government.
Politics aside, counter-power can be seen everywhere, from politics to social movements, to individual choices. Sometimes I find myself attempting to counter the power of ads, looking away when they appear, just so they “can’t get me”. I try to avoid being influenced by social media as much as I can, but sometimes it’s unavoidable, which I find terrifying. I try to resist the power that social media and large corporations have over me, but I know the only way to escape is to delete them entirely. Even then, ads will always appear on websites and while I watch TV. Resisting the power of ads and social media is nearly impossible without being ostracized from society or having no social life. Advertisements are everywhere, and there is no escape. At this point, I have grown to accept the power that technology has over me, and that privacy is nonexistent. Big Brother is watching you!
