I dig this use of fun color and text with the more serious seal and the formality of the background. Makes me curious.
by9:
As a long-time font/calligraphy student I appreciate the details.
by9:
‘Great ways to differentiate Helvetica from Arial’ by George Drury
Is Social Media’s Watchful Eye Changing Our Behavior?
Jeremy Lantham’s 18th century ideas for keeping people in line by giving them the feeling of always being watched inspired some fun architectural plans for a prison, the Panopticon.
Do we get the same creepy feeling of being watched, and thus stay on our best behavior because of the invisible network of eyes likely watching us through our social media?
Social media gives more privacy in many ways than that afforded a would-be Panopticon prisoner. We choose when we broadcast and are able to edit before posting. We Skype, then disconnect. There is not a constant stream of observation, unless an individual chooses to post it. We don’t have to post “I screamed at the the dog for ten minutes this morning because it peed all over my favorite rug again!” unless we want to.
We have all ghosted through the online information of friends and enemies, unseen. We have all been the eyes of the observers. Social networking sights have set the tone for us to feel that we are being observed by friends- peers who share things in common with us. This is not always the case.
Our online persona is likely being observed at any given moment by any number of different eyes. Social networking sites, like Facebook, have privacy settings, but with employers trying to extort passwords out of people and the free access that site creators and governmental agencies have to online information, these settings only veil information from certain people.
Social media is special, however, because we are not being directly observed. The observation of the online persona, which we have significant freedom in creating and even the choice of whether or not to create, gives us a whole different set of options than a Panopticon prisoner has, where every whispered word is heard and every subtle movement is seen. Our daily lives can continue as before, without fear of reprisal or intimidation from constant observation. We just have to remember that our editable online personas are being watched by nameless eyes possibly all of the time.
So we should stop to consider that what we post is ever-observable- and then go for it if it makes us happy.
