Ring customers with home security cameras have become content providers. Ring, now owned by Amazon, shares the “best” of its customers’ surveillance videos on its website tv.ring.com. Sharing security videos is nothing new. His TikTok videos with the hashtag #RingDoorbell have over 2.5 billion views.
However, starting Fall 2022, these fisheye-framed videos will have new and larger distribution channels. ring nationIt’s another Amazon purchase, produced by MGM and hosted by Wanda Sykes. I don’t know what to worry about most. The fact that the show is on, or the fact that people watch it. Surveillance as entertainment. what could be the problem?
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The use of ring camera video in TV shows is a clever marketing move by the company. By classifying security surveillance as entertainment, we challenge existing societal norms about security surveillance. What was invasive and creepy is now not only socially acceptable, but downright fun. Academic evidence shows that pervasive surveillance increases public acceptance despite growing threats to privacy, autonomy, and civil liberties, but researchers say the impact of surveillance as an entertainment program have not yet investigated.
Low cost and ease of installation have lowered the barriers to adoption of video surveillance equipment at the home level. Some have suggested that the number of doorbell cameras exceeds the number used by the government. (2021) From a Stanford Policy Lab report that in New York City alone he has over 100,000 outdoor surveillance cameras.
Due to surveillance fees, video surveillance is still out of reach for many. This probably explains the less than 50% home adoption rate. But parent companies such as Amazon and Google are further changing social norms and increasing acceptance by positioning video surveillance as part of the smart home. Such large companies can also increase legitimacy and credibility. Especially if you’re not concerned about personal data contributing to AI algorithms. Also, the “Amazon Effect” transforms surveillance equipment from a specialty item into a household item, one-click purchase and prime shipping to get him in 1 or 2 days.
Video platforms such as YouTube and TikTok have standardized short-form video content as entertainment. The rapid rise of TikTok and the rapid movement of Instagram and Snap to offer similar capabilities reflect video’s ability to convey deeper, richer, and broader information. All of the time-consuming reactions in text or static images.
According to data published by Kastle Systems (2017), acceptance of smart home security cameras is inversely related to age. The younger you are, the more likely you are to install video surveillance cameras. This makes sense because younger generations are more likely to adopt new technologies because they don’t have to “forget” the old ways of doing things. Gen Z and millennials have increasingly easy access to video content, the ability to create and share media for free, Instagram and Tick Tock.
Surveillance is not just for catching criminal activity. Pet cams and baby cams can help people feel better taken care of by monitoring their babies, children, and pets and alleviating the anxiety of them not being there. It reflects a fairly basic psychological motivation of providing safety and security.
By normalizing surveillance cameras, people can indulge their desire to observe others. It’s not as creepy as it sounds. Humans are social by nature. Social neuroscience shows that our social perceptions are the brain’s “default operating system.” Social monitoring is how we learn how to navigate the social world.Our psychological and physical survival has always depended on our ability to partner, cooperate and connect. It is possible to assume a third-person bias that there is a fascination with watching other people’s vulnerable moments, and that surveillance is one of the things that affects others more than oneself, unless one has experienced being monitored himself. There is a possibility
Surveillance cameras most directly target our need for safety and our desire to eliminate uncertainty. From an evolutionary perspective, safety comes from information. It was important to know when the sabertooth came to town. Information is still reassuring, as the popularity of crime-monitoring apps like Citizen attests. The data is rich and complex, especially with emotionally active content, as the brain cannot distinguish between real and virtual very effectively. The need to feel safe is amplified by environmental uncertainties such as political tensions, social unrest, pandemics and school shootings, increasing the appeal of surveillance but also turning our consumption toward threats. As the mean world syndrome suggests, consuming negative content makes us think the world is a scarier place than it really is.
The “entertainment” of surveillance video is directly linked to the need for safety and curiosity about others. Especially if you can find out how others dealt with the threat. If it’s presented as “real life” entertainment, it will also ease anxiety and guilt, and you won’t have to think about it.
Video surveillance poses a huge risk to your privacy. Aside from the ability to hack security networks, the videos can be accessed by surveillance companies, i.e. government agencies. Using surveillance video for entertainment is a sleight of hand that subverts civil liberties through psychological manipulation by reconstructing the activity as normal and enjoyable.
TV.ring.com has montages Dog Takedowns, Bird Chase, Donut Squirrel & Trick Shots. Ring gets permission to use the video, as evidenced by a cute cameo shot of the enthusiastic owner. This creates another layer of normalization, social proof. This is the visible endorsement of others. In this way, viewers are immersed in the social acceptance and entertainment value of video surveillance without asking tough questions. Audiences are fully prepared to accept the underlying message of the video underneath the fun. These are labeled crime prevention and show evidence of the value of surveillance to protect homeowners. When we have fun and are immersed in dozens of first-hand stories, our cognitive resistance is lowered and we stop asking difficult questions.
We cannot rely on Amazon to protect our rights. However, as a consumer, you can demand transparency and accountability from surveillance companies. You can also enable media literacy to be added to the literacy that schools currently teach. Technology changes rapidly. Without critical thinking, people tend to be passive. From crime deterrence to event surveillance, cop cameras to baby cameras, surveillance cameras definitely have their benefits. But I worry that once security cameras and surveillance videos are seen as entertainment, people will think they’ve stopped asking difficult questions.
