The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana
Zuboff, 2019, Excerpts
Social
media is designed to engage and hold people of all ages, but it is principally
molded to the psychological structure of adolescence and emerging adulthood,
when one is naturally oriented toward the “others,” especially toward the
rewards of group recognition, acceptance, belonging, and inclusion. Young
people crave the hive, and Facebook gives it to them, but this time it’s owned
and operated by surveillance capital and scientifically engineered.
It
boasts detailed information on mood shifts among young people based on internal Facebook data, and it claims that Facebook’s prediction products can
not only detect sentiment but also predict how emotions are communicated at
different points during the week, matching each emotional phase with
appropriate ad messaging for the maximum probability of guaranteed outcomes.
Today’s
means of behavioral modification are aimed unabashedly at “us.” Everyone is
swept up in this new market dragnet, including the psychodramas of ordinary,
unsuspecting fourteen-year-olds approaching the weekend with anxiety. By
monitoring posts, pictures, interactions, and Internet activity, Facebook can
work out when young people feel stressed, defeated, overwhelmed, anxious, nervous,
stupid, silly, useless, and a failure.
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