The Incremental Normalization of Being Tracked

By Davis Reschenberg

I remember reading George Orwell’s 1984 in high school, and I remembered a lot of the themes and general plot points from some of the discussions during that time, but while I was re-reading it over the last week I kept finding small things that are extremely relevant today. Concepts of being watched by Big Brother (begins synonymous with the government or by large monopolistic corporations today) and being brainwashed into following a specific means of thinking are ideas that are eerily applicable to concerns people are constantly dealing with today. We are all living in a time where everything we do (online) is being watched in a sense - every ad you watch, every webpage you visit, everything you browse or buy, it’s all being tracked. Even your location! Google is notoriously known for logging your location (whether it is for maps or data science, who really knows). This is exactly the modern-day equivalent of Big Brother watching you from the screens.

Another interesting parallel is the fact that so many people are fine with it. I would even consider myself one of those people. I’ve become so desensitized to the concept of being tracked and logged for every digital footprint I make, I don’t even care anymore. Take my location, take my email, send me all those targeted ads - it’s so normalized now, it would be weird if you weren’t getting personalized ads for something you mentioned in passing to a friend. There are even clear examples of people who are against the system like Wilson - it seems like every day there is a new lawsuit or report about outing Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon, or the government about collecting data the user didn’t consent to (most of which seem to end up with a slap on the wrist for the wrongdoing).

We’re even seeing how people are (effectively) getting brainwashed by this technology. For example, social media websites are built to give people what they want to see (exactly like our previous resources on Facebook & the podcast last week). This leads to people getting constant affirmation of their current beliefs, without being exposed to new information that could potentially change their opinion. This is the kind of system that has been further polarizing our countries' already broken political system. We’re screwed!

Something I’ve always appreciated about 1984 is the sort of conspiracy theory surrounding Julia potentially being part of the Thought Police. I’ve always loved that this book is so dedicated to the paranoia surrounding Big Brother, that it even leaves the reader confused. The thought of Julia being against Wilson the whole time, but never being revealed was so genius because it pushes that confusion onto the reader. Leaving them unsure of the entire dynamic of the story, and allowing a number of interpretations of how the story may have played out behind the scenes.