Teenagers compare their lives to the lives of influencers on Instagram and tik tok, which are often an inaccurate representation of the influencers’ actual lifestyles.
Teenagers compare their pictures to photoshopped pictures on Instagram, which holds them to unrealistic beauty standards and destroys their self-esteem.
Teenagers spend hours mindlessly scrolling through Instagram without being aware of the time. This promotes loneliness and laziness, which increases the risk of depression.
False information spreads quickly on social media, and teenagers believe it because their favorite influencers report incorrect information. This increases their risk of anxiety.
Gallo argues that people support surveillance because of social norms. Surveillance protects to a certain extent. However, it comes with disadvantages such as invasion of privacy. Gallo says that surveillance is beneficial in situations such as protecting children from swimming coaches. On the other hand, surveillance is used because of “white anxiety” around African Americans, violating citizens’ rights. This is a controversial topic because it speaks about the norms of society. Many people disagree on what might be ethical and what violates peoples’ rights. Some people may think that surveillance is necessary to protect people regardless of its negative impact on privacy. Contrarily, some people believe that surveillance is a complete violation of privacy and shouldn’t be used in most cases.
Gallo quotes “The Circle” by David Eggers, “I await the day when some vocal minority finally rises up to say it’s gone too far, and that this tool, which is far more insidious than any human invention that’s come before it, must be checked, regulated, turned back, and that, most of all, we need options for opting out.” Gallo used this source to show how Mercer, a character in the novel, escapes surveillance. This shows the negative side of surveillance which Gallo supports in his essay. Another source that Gallo used is “Surveillance and conformity in competitive youth swimming” by Melanie Lang. This article is about surveillance in competitive youth swimming. I think this was very effective for Gallo’s argument because it’s about one of his sub-arguments. It focuses on surveillance in competitive youth swimming, which supports Gallo’s argument that people’s norms of society require swimming coaches to be monitored. I think the author quoted them fairly because both sources were used to support Gallo’s argument. He uses one source to show the negative effects of surveillance and the other to show the positive aspects. These sources don’t complicate Gallo’s argument. Instead, they serve to support his argument.
One thought on “Wedad Mourtada, Week 13 Reading Responses”
Thoughtful work here, Wedad, thank you. I agree that Gallo does a thoughtful job of asking, why would our society embrace these norms in the first place?
Thoughtful work here, Wedad, thank you. I agree that Gallo does a thoughtful job of asking, why would our society embrace these norms in the first place?