The Panopticon of Social Media
The Panopticon of Social Media
Insider #102 with a chance to learn a new word (if nothing else).
Dear Insider,
This month, I will be in places, saying words and showing drawings. Come see me?
In today’s post, links to upcoming events (virtual and in-person) and first thoughts about the panopticon of social media in my life.
The SneakyArt (Insider) Post is written for patrons and supporters of Sneaky Art. Every Sunday, I offer a behind-the-scenes look at my work, a backstage pass to ongoing projects, and a front-row seat to workshops, sales, and events.
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💻 [VIRTUAL] This week on Tuesday at 12 pm PT, I am doing a live demo with Art Toolkit on their YouTube channel. Tap for more details and the link to grab a (free) seat.
🖼️ [IN-PERSON] This week on Thursday at 7.30 pm PT, I am doing the Thursday Artist Talk at Surrey Art Gallery. I will show different travel sketchbooks and speak about how a sketchbook habit has helped me better understand my world, as both traveller and immigrant. There will be time for a chat and q&a and it is a FREE event, so if you live in the area please drop by! (More details)
🎤 [IN-PERSON] Next week on Thursday 14 Sep, I am presenting at the 55th edition of PechaKucha Night Vancouver, a fun platform where multiple presenters share insightful and interesting ideas in a fast-paced and entertaining format. PechaKucha Night began in Tokyo in 2003, and derives its name from the Japanese term for ‘chit chat’. Learn more and buy tickets (C$23).
✍🏼 [WORKSHOPS] I will announce the next Zoom workshop later this week. And I am planning at least one in-person workshop in Vancouver before the weather gets too cold. Stay tuned!
Last month, I wrote tiny stories with SneakyArt Insiders. This week, I am mailing tiny drawings to everyone who wrote a story in these threads!
After mailing the first set of drawings this morning, I sat with a chai and a view of the food court at the City Square Shopping Center.
Before leaving, I left a drawing on the table for a stranger to find.
Dear Insider, your support allows me to do this. From my New Year’s resolution post - 2023 and Me - you may remember that this year I am trying to give away as much art as possible.
I believe that everyone should own art. Our access to art, and our experience of its aura, should not be limited by financial means or economic transactions. Your support lets me give away art to readers as well as strangers all over the world, without guilt or hesitation. Thank you. 🙏🏼
From the Philosophize This podcast, I learned about a concept of social control designed to discipline prison inmates. It is called the panopticon, and I think we are all living inside one today. (Learn more.)
The original idea was a prison designed so that a guard could watch the activities of all prisoners all the time. It was based on the idea that you would self-regulate your behaviour if you thought you were constantly being watched. In this way, a prison could run itself, or at least be managed by fewer guards.
It is important to consider that a panopticon still works even if does not work as long as the prisoners believe it works. The illusion of control is all that matters.
In a world where our every action becomes data and no data is private, do we already live inside a panopticon?
While there are many directions to go with this thought, the one that has plagued me for many months is the panopticon of social media. I struggle against it every single day. As an independent artist and creator of content (ugh), it is an existential battle.
A Panopticon of Social Media could not work without a degree of enthusiastic participation from its users. So maybe the prison analogy is not completely accurate. Nevertheless, it could work -
by incentivizing the performative display of virtues
by compelling impressionable minds to exhibit themselves in endless games for social media points
by elevating the public persona over the private self - “Did I do it if I didn’t share it on social media?”
I want to think deeply before committing more words. It is a problem that afflicts me in a different way now than before.
Since becoming a big Instagram account, the spectre of countless, faceless other people hangs heavy over my head. What do they want from me? What should I give them? Will they like this? Will they judge that? And, how can I get more of them to follow me?
These are dangerous questions. Not because they are difficult to answer, but because they are invalid. No artist should think about these things. You could say, no artist should think about other people at all. (But I have previously also said that they really should?)
Anyway, Sartre said - Hell is other people. And next week, I want to think about existentialism in the panopticon of social media:
What does it mean to be yourself online? What is your self online?
In closing, watch David Bowie explaining why an artist should never work for other people.
Dear Insider, thank you again for your support. I am glad to have a space in your inbox and a share of your time and attention every week.
Nishant, I so appreciate everything you do! Thank you for your posts and your podcasts and especially your art and your generosity in sharing it!
Aaah I can really relate to this. I call Instagram the “angel of death” for my art. The minute a thought of likes or follows enters my brain, true creativity flies out the window. And thanks for that bit of Bowie at the end!