Police state. Hmmm….
I haven’t seen the movie. I’m not sure I want to. The title alone is enough to get me thinking.
Surveillance. Who? What? Where? How? When? But what concerns me most is why?
We walk around glued to our mini computers. It’s all about convenience, being progressive, the modern age. Everything is digitized. It’s modern, better and good for us to be so advanced in our society these days. We can water our lawn from an app on our phone when we are out of town. We can watch our kid’s every move to keep them out of trouble. We can video tape everyone and everything around us, in case we miss something and need to know what really happened when we weren’t looking.
IT’S CREEPY!
So I started looking around to see how much of a police state I actually have in my own little bubble. We’ll start with my phone. I turned off location, but I know I’m still being tracked. I don’t have digital coupons for the store. Scratch that. I don’t have digital coupons for the grocery store. I still have them for a few clothing and craft stores. Those $5 dollar rewards add up. It’s an easy incentive to let them track what I buy. The grocery sends me paper coupons in the mail. They track what I buy through the store, so I don’t need an app to save money on groceries.
My tv won’t work unless it is constantly updated. Same goes for my phone. My car is nearly 25 years old. I’ve long since retired the old software that dinged and sent out warning signals every time anything was wrong. A few things like when I need an oil change, or my tire pressure is low still ding to keep me safe.
Driving to the corner there are several camera posts, some to catch me if I’m speeding, others to video tape prospective criminals as a deterrent. A simple trip to the store surrounds me with too many cameras to count. All stores have multiple cameras, even in the dressing rooms. Local churches have upgraded their security systems. I mean it’s not like ring doorbell is just for local residents.
Yes, my neighbors can watch me too; they know every time I take the trash out, walk the dog or spit on the sidewalk. Okay. I don’t actually spit on the sidewalk, but if I did they would catch me in the act.
Years ago I put a sticky over the eye at the top of my computer. The darn red light would randomly start flashing. Sometimes it would flash quickly and be done. Other times it had the red light continuously flashing, kind of like a video recording. It was annoying and a complete distraction when I’m writing, so I covered it up to avoid losing my train of thought. It’s not like my computer doesn’t keep records of everything I do on it anyway.
The apps that we use keep all sorts of data on us. I use this one called Mistplay. I get points for downloading and playing the games I like. Points add up and can be cashed in for gift cards. Gift cards come in handy, and I use them for everything from toilet paper to birthday and Christmas presents for my family. It’s more like earning a few bucks off on my purchases every now and then. The idea is to download and play the games, give away as much of your information as possible, so you can get those pop up ads encouraging you to buy something you were just thinking or talking about.
Sound. There’s another type of surveillance. I was in my yarn group the other day talking with my friends. Sure enough my phone notified me of 3 new patterns and stitches I could learn to make. These were followed by yarn sales to various online retailers. Last night I downloaded some coloring app. I didn’t think I’d enjoy it much, but for a no brainer type activity, it’s actually not that bad. I don’t even have my phone and computer synced to each other, but sure enough I’m getting all sorts of paint by number, adult coloring books, crayons and art supplies showing up everywhere I look.
It’s fine enough when it’s for ease and convenience. Who really cares what brand of toothpaste I buy? Yet, it’s an invasion of privacy. Why does anyone need to watch and track us this much? What do they do with the information, if they don’t plan to use it against us? Where do they store all this information? How is it stored? When do they turn out the lights?
They can, you know. We only get to use our devices. Someone else is in charge of the switch that makes them work. Perhaps a whole lot of someone else’s working together, to catch us in the act of not complying, or questioning some stupid new rule we are expected to follow. Sure doesn’t feel like freedom much to me, when I think about it. Watched and tracked everywhere we go, every move we make monitored, all sorts of bells and whistles going off all the time. Training us to be controlled, not by advancements in technology. No. By the people who control the switch that turns it on and off when we use it.
Inside My Head is a free publication. If you’d like to contribute to my work here, please sign up for a paid subscription. Thank you.
Wishing you all only the best things in life. Thanks so much for spending time with me today :)
Teresa