Categories: uncategorized
Date: 03 August 2006 15:25:43
I found I was under constant surveillance.
I was recently given a new computer at work which was great because, being a Mac user, the latest ones always look really cool. (At least until the next ones come out, but hey, at least for a while I have a cool looking computer (and yes, I know I've omitted a hyphen there, but you'll see why in a moment)). Then today we needed a photo of one of my colleagues. And somebody pointed out that we could just use my new computer because it has a camera built in. Huh? But yes, sure enough, there at the top of the screen is a small black square, a quarter of the size of a postage stamp, which has been spying on me for the last few weeks. I turned on the monitor to watch it and it is truly terrifying. There I am, calm to begin with, then shocked, then terrified, then running screaming from the room at the thought of all this being captured. And there it all is being displayed on the screen, bright and clear as anything.
I had noticed how excited my kids get at digital cameras and being able to see themselves on a screen, but I didn't think it affected me as much. How wrong, how wrong. Theoretically having this spy in the screen thing is nothing more than having a mirror in front of me - I move and my reflection moves, I move and the image of me moves. But it is much more affecting. Mind you, a mirror can have quite an effect. I read once that you can trace all the differences between American pop music and British pop music to the fact that an American kid who wants to be a musician will spend all day with a guitar learning to play, while a British kid who wants to be a musician will spend all day with a tennis racquet in front of a mirror. But I've never yet been made to leave the room by a mirror.