The past week and always, I listen to Pandora’s music Station, but this week more than ever because we are on midterms and I can concentrate better while listening to music. But since I refused to pay for the “free commercial app” then I have to listen to their commercials/ads. Before our class and our readings, I always wondered how Pandora’s commercials/ads were (and still are) announcing; “ready to try out our new gym location?” “if you owe money” ready to buy a car?” “want a new degree?” “ready for a vacation?” “do you or do you know anyone who suffers from depression?” (I hope the depression ad is because I ‘m always listening to spiritual music). While I’m listening to Pandora’s station, I’m also using Google’s search engine, registering for a gym class, paying my bills, opening my Baruch email, etc. Because I have so many windows open at once, I’m giving away my personal preferences or information. Somehow, somewhere later I’ll be reminded of what I should be thinking about or buy. Andrejevic states that “Most of us have some vague understanding that marketers are gathering information about us when we use our credit cards, register our preferences online, surf the Web, or use our mobile phone, but we have very little knowledge about what information is being gathered, who has access to it, and how it is being used” (page 7). Now, do I accept this “consumer profile?” Well, before I would say “this is scary.” After our readings and conversation in our class, I think all we should do is to educate ourselves and just go with the flow. We are the consumers sending free information to the “market surveillance” and they are tailoring our needs and wants. At the end, as consumers we have the power and knowledge to decide if we want to buy something or not.
This is something that happened to one of my friends. She was usually downloading “free” movies from the internet (I swear, it was not me but because of her I understand this “panoptic” idea). One day she got a message on her computer’s screen saying “warning, if you continue to “download movies” you will be taking to court and pay a fine or go to jail for conducting an illegal behavior. At some point, I thought of doing the same but now that I know that we are being “watch” I changed my mind. David Lyon says, “The prison-like society, where invisible observers track our digital footprints, does indeed seem panoptic” (page 219). For this kind of situations, I agreed with the idea of being under surveillance because it helps and reminds people to avoid unwanted behavior(s).
Question 1. Do you guys agree with me about Pandora, if yes which commercial/ad do you think was tailored to your “consumer profile”?
Question 2. So, if we are being watched, then, who do you think is watching the people that are watching us?
The next YouTube video gives more details about the Panopticon, Discipline and Punish topics. Note: I think this YouTube video might help for our midterm.
I think the video was a great addition to your post since it better explains the panopticon and its integration in cyberspace. As a user of Pandora, I can relate to your experiences and also often would question why these specific commercials would play instead of others. I think that it reflects our personality to a certain extent but also find it intrusive since it disrupts my overall music listening experience and shoves ads down out throats.
Honestly I haven’t listened to Pandora long enough to form an opinion on the ad choices but to answer the question on who may be watching us. I believe its the government as it is their job to make sure us as citizen behave and they want to have a sense of control over us. It helps them catch the “bad guys” quickly and they believe it necessary for our safety.
I have Pandora and I used it for quite a while but the ads was 1 of the reasons why I don’t use it as much. Even though some ads will match my preferences and likes, it was annoying to hear a Geico or Aflac ad after listening to Zayn’s pillow talk =/
I guess there are times where I would like to hear ads but not when I’m in my feelings.
And for the 2nd question I believe that is government who watch the people that is watching us. The government is like the general manager and the people below them the supervisors.