Have you ever had the feeling that you are being watched whilst online? That every click, like or view is being watched by someone or showcased to your friends?
Even though the internet and social media have made us more interconnected than ever, it’s also brought about constant surveillance by companies that log and categorise everything we do.
This is what Tijmen Schep, a Dutch technology critic is calling “social cooling” – a society of increased social conformity and rigidity, in which users self-censor or second guess everything that we do online.
Data brokers collect our data online, from the smallest cookie to what we view on Youtube. They then create reputation scores about us which are detailed psychological profiles. Which has now given rise to something called the reputation economy.
In the past, you had physical constructs to increase or decrease your reputation like money or social status. Now we have an online database filled with everything we post, like and share on social media.
Although this seems far fetched, all you have to do is look at what is happening in China. China has already taken advantage of this kind of information. They have created what they are calling ‘The Social Credit System’.
This system gives each adult citizen in China a score that represents how well-behaved of a citizen they are. This is taken from lots of places – your credit rating, what you say on social media, what you buy online, and then combined.
In China, people were told that this system was to help everyone to become a better citizen. That they would be a more ethical and normative person. However, one glance at this system and it is increasingly clear to see that the government there does not trust their citizens, they want to increase social pressure and keep people in line.
Experts believe in the next 10 years, we will begin to see the effects of this system and could affect your ability to get a job or to get a bank loan. People will then begin to actively change how they express themselves and what they post online.
We will see more self-censorship where people decide not to do or say things if they think it will affect their score. We could see people deciding not to protest or stand up for what they believe in, this in turn could devastate society and hold us back.
This has even begun to happen in recent times, when Edward Snowden leaked information in regards to the US Government’s electronic surveillance programs. After this leak occurred, people were less likely to search up the word ‘terrorism’ on Google or Wikipedia. This kind of environment can dampen values like creativity and individualism that Western societies hold dear.