SURVEILLANCE ON SOCIAL MEDIA

The new media forms have given opportunity to the people to do many things on social media and we see this on different aspects of life but it is most evident in our very personal daily life experiences. People often utilise digital media specifically social media as a means to brand themselves amongst such people are musicians, poets, writers and designers. Amongst things such platforms have provided we can include without any doubt new ways of marketing and new mobilisations while censoring others or reinforcing others through repetition. The internet culture has been incorporated into our quotidian life experiences as we use it in personal conversations which are sometimes embedded in political discussions. The internet has become a vivid example of a disciplinary tool which utilises ideology and discourse to punish which makes it highly attractive as it does not engage in physical pain manifestation. Public shaming is done on a different scale for distinct purposes but it is mostly evinced in ordinary people’s lives.  

Surveillance is not only typical or unique to print media, radio and television as new media enhances societal involvement in keeping order. Manufactured consent is usually executed without the use of force, this allows people to widely engage in acting as communal police or enhances them to police themselves in accordance to the bureaucratic rules. Digital media gives the residents a communal belonging and a space where these people can communicate about social issues which in turn leads to maintenance of ideas existing prior to the establishment of such technologies (Shah et al, 2005:536). Public shaming has taken a turn from the use of physical pain infliction to psychological pain infliction which takes place on social media as this is perceived less harmful than physical torture. People are becoming constantly aware of the use of social media to shame people this instils fear in them that they do refrain from behaving in a way which would be seen as deviant by the society. Stories which are perceived to be very deviant from society are taken by the mainstream media which scouts continuously for stories on social media that might spark an argument as such stories question moral ethics within the society (Hess &Waller, 2014: 101-105).

The end of the 2018 FIFA World Cup has seen the introduction of VAR in the South African context which takes place on social media rather than on the pitch. People have been told to be very cautious of what they put out on social media because VAR does not only shame people through taking and distributing information about them without their knowledge but they also digs for details on existing posts. VAR which in full writes ‘Video Assistant Reference’ was used to evaluate things which were not clear to the referee and his assistants where he would go and look into the screen from where a final decision would be taken (WAAR OR VAR? HOW SOCIAL MEDIA IS CATCHING PEOPLE OUT: 2018).

The old lady is said to have called the girl names which led the young girl to hit the elder asking her who is a bi*ch calling her by name? The young girl was later taken to court after the video fell into the hands of the police. As the video went viral after being distributed by someone who witnessed the incident and took to their fingers to address the matter. This girl who appears severely biting an elderly woman in a conflict about alcohol has been charged with a fine of three goats and a cow. The alcohol is said to have belonged to Macebe (the elder) and one of the elders declared that Mbali (the girl) should get a biting as she shows no regrets about what she did, after the fine and biting the charges can then be dropped (Zuma, 2018).

From the story of Mbali and Macebe we can see how surveillance is taking shape in a new form which includes participatory and intersecting journalism. The society works as free labour to monitor their very own behaviour through new media technologies and their actions challenge that which is seen as deviant. Although public shaming that manifest itself through new media is not affiliated with physical coercion it is a paint that will be embedded in the life of the concerned person. The term VAR serves as a metaphor for fixing the deviant behaviour as it analyses each event thoroughly.  A famous South African dancer Zodwa Wabantu has been consonantly under scrutiny from VAR and another phenomenon called We Are Fixing The Country, for the way in which she dresses. Zodwa Wabantu usually wears short skirts without any underpants which makes people to take to fingers to correct the matter. The new media is then a weapon which reinforces the ideas, norms, and beliefs which existed before such a platform was introduced to the society. Londie London a famous South African musician has also been under close scrutiny because she wears very short pants or just puts a pant on in most pictures that she posts on social media.  With the former and the latter celebrities we can see how body mobility is controlled and reinforcements of the human behaviour are being rearticulated. Although citizens think they act independently to create an ideal society the truth is they recreate a society which has already been developed for them by the authority that gives them tools of fortifying existing norms or reification. Bodies are being constantly constructed and reconstructed on social media, so we can argue that such new media forms just like traditional media forms which include the television teaches behaviour. On television adverts would instruct people on what to do and what to abstain from doing and such behaviour is mediated on the terms of the authority and media proprietors. Unlike traditional media the new digital media forms give the illusion of power to ordinary individuals to set and reinforce rules for themselves. Some might argue that such actions of social behaviour control emanate from social media platforms as by products but this appears as a well calculated plan to let the society control itself without having to think about it.    

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Hess, K. and Waller, L., 2014. The digital pillory: media shaming of ‘ordinary'people for minor crimes. Continuum, 28(1), 101-111.

Shah, D.V., Cho, J., Eveland Jr, W.P. & Kwak, N., 2005. Information and expression in a digital age: Modeling Internet effects on civic participation. Communication research, 32(5), pp.531-565.

WAAR OR VAR? HOW SOCIAL MEDIA IS CATCHING PEOPLE OUT. 2018. Online, Retrieved 28 AUGUST 2018: https://ewn.co.za/2018/08/08/waar-or-var-how-social-media-is-catching-people-out

Zuma, S. 2018. Udliwe inkomo otaxe isalukazi kubangwa utshwala baso Retrived September 2, 2018 from https://www.isolezwe.co.za/izindaba/udliwe-inkomo-otaxe-isalukazi-kubangwa-utshwala-baso-16852234

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