surveillance capitalism

The Voluntary Panopticon: How Convenience Became Surveillance (And You Paid For It)

Diagram showing voluntary panopticon with smartphone as central guard tower and users self-surveilling through convenience features

Orwell’s Big Brother required force. Ours requires WiFi. In 1984, the Ministry of Truth watched citizens through telescreens installed by the state. Mandatory. Unavoidable. Totalitarian. In 2025, you installed the telescreen yourself. You pay a monthly subscription for it. You carry it everywhere. You panic when the battery dies. And you call it ”convenience.” Big The Voluntary Panopticon: How Convenience Became Surveillance (And You Paid For It)