#thecircle102s05

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Click To Share (1)

How many times a day do you share on social media? Whether it is your post, a friend’s post, or a post that has gone viral, sharing allows your followers to get a glimpse of the person you are and the things that interest you. There are times when you scroll through a news feed and read an article someone has shared about another person’s fight with cancer, which leads to an outpouring of love and support shown through comments and online connections all throughout the world. Even something as simple as going to the Grand Canyon and posting pictures could interest those who have never been before. The ability to be able to share with others is something that should not be taken for granted. Sharing is caring.

The Circle by Dave Eggers introduces us to a 24-year-old girl named Mae Holland. Her life changed in an instant after being hired at one of the most powerful technology companies in the world called The Circle. Based in the near future, The Circle is a fictionalized Google created by “The Three Wise Men”. The company it’s first breakthrough with a program that combines all of a person’s medical information, social media, banking, etc. and links it to one single online identity known as TruYou, which is growing to contain virtually all information that exists across the world. With over 10,000 employees The Circle’s mission is to innovate and create a more accountable society by fully believing in transparency and truth. A major theme that is important at The Circle is “Sharing Is Caring”. “If you care about your fellow human beings, you share what you know with them”(The Circle, 304). When given the opportunity to post about who we are, what we are interested in and what goes on in our daily lives, it is only fair to give our friends and followers what they want. For example, if we know a friend is going to a concert and we check Snapchat to find no videos being posted, it is like it didn’t happen. If we don’t share our experiences with our followers what is the point of having social media any way?  

Though many people think of social media as a sick disease that is taking over our daily lives. There are benefits and amazing outcomes when it comes to sharing online. Psychologist Emma Kelly says, “Writing about experiences provides some connection. The act of writing down an experience is massively cathartic in itself and can help gain a sense of control. When we share personal details there is an element of response-seeking involved -- if we share sad news we require empathy and others sharing their own stories”(The London Evening Standard). Online sharing can lead to global caring. With social media being such a huge part of our lives, it is only fitting that sharing something online can be extremely successful in ways of finding those who can relate, help, listen, or simply enjoy with what you have to say. Sharing also gives you the power to connect and share experiences with those that may not have the opportunity to experience some of the things you experience. “When one person shares their experience it gives others permission to feel the same and talk about it”(The London Evening Standard).

Though The Circle can take technology and social media to the extreme, they do have it right when it comes to “Sharing Is Caring”. You never know the impact you may have one someone simply by sharing, whether it is funny and could make someone’s day or it is touching and could change someone’s life. “Technology can make us feel out of control but this reclaims it, using it to tell your story how and when you want to”(The London Evening Standard). Eggers, Dave. The Circle. New York: Vintage, 2013. Print.

"When online sharing leads to global caring; Spreading our news on social media is both cathartic and a powerful tool."London Evening Standard [London, England] 5 Aug. 2015: 21. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 7 Dec. 2015.

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The Lonely Network (2)

I currently have 1,827 Facebook friends, 882 Instagram followers, and almost 400 people following me on Twitter. They like my pictures, comment on my posts, and retweet my hilarious, judgmental tweets about The Kardashians. Social media “connects” us; online we are the best of friends. Offline, however, I spotted one of my followers in Target (whom I had never actually met) and I started experiencing anxiety thinking about an awkward human interaction. Unfortunately, I couldn’t double tap the cute dress in her shopping cart and keep walking past. So, what did I do? I panicked, made a sharp right onto aisle five, and pretended to look at dog food for a dog I don’t even have. I avoided her because in reality, she is not my friend. I do not know her. Just because we are friends on Facebook and it is easy to click the like button does not mean we are friends in real life.  The impact social media has on our generation ultimately disconnects us from reality.

Mae Holland is a perfect example of one who has allowed social media to consume her. Communication at The Circle is based on social interactions; involving yourself with others by communicating online, sharing feedback, talking with complete strangers as if they were your friends. There are many advantages to this type of interaction, but when it begins to interfere with the actual people that are physically sitting right in front of you, it can be offensive and rude. The fact that two people can’t sit down and have dinner together without scrolling through their phones or go to a concert without recording the entire thing instead of enjoying the experience just shows how out of touch with reality we truly are.

Throughout the book, Mercer symbolizes Mae’s reality check. He continues to attempt to pull Mae out of the “cult” that is The Circle and bring her back to life. “You no longer pick up on basic human communication clues. You’re at a table with three humans, all of whom are looking at you and trying to talk to you, and you’re staring at a screen, searching for strangers in Dubai… Here’s the thing, and it’s painful to say this to you. But you’re not very interesting anymore. You sit at a desk twelve hours a day and you have nothing to show for it except for some numbers that won’t exist or be remembered in a week. You’re leaving no evidence that you lived”(The Circle, 282). The opinion of those that care for her, like Mercer, couldn’t mean less to Mae when compared to the opinion of those online. After a survey taken at The Circle, there were 300 people who voted Mae was not awesome. Her self confidence was down, she was angry, and she cared more about those 300 “dislikes” instead of opinion and dislikes coming from her own friends and family. In the end, this causes Mae to lose the real relationships in her life. The Circle and social media became more important than who she truly was. Mae not only lost Mercer and her parents, she lost sight of who she was before her life existed online.

Mae was a local celebrity at The Circle. She had all of these people who were in awe of who she was and what she meant to the company. But, at the end of the day Mae never truly made a real friendship with any of her 10,000 coworkers. She was settling for people like Francis and Kalden, the only two people she had real interaction with outside of social media. Not only does this happen to Mae, but it happens to those in real life as well. In an article written about 28 year old Walter Piper, he experiences a situation similar to Mae’s. He has no real friends due to of lack of social communication outside of his social media. “Piper, despite having more than 300 friends on Facebook, found himself in a predicament shared by many millennials: He had no real friends to hang out with”(New York Post). This generation consumes their time with social media. It is all most people know. Human interaction is becoming harder and harder to achieve. Two people can’t go out to dinner without one of them having their phone’s stuck in their face. Physically, that person is there; mentally the other person might as well be eating alone.

Pauline Wanjiku a counselor and sociology student reveals, "In a way, human contact is being replaced by electronic communication. People express themselves through posts, tweets, updates and blogs but not verbally. Facial expressions and other non-verbal communication forms don't count much. Forging relationships and making decisions is at times based on phrases or emoticons. It is not my place to say which is better but in a way it is quantity versus quality. Face to face communication is quality”(Wanjiku). We become so wrapped up in the world that is social media, we begin to doubt ourselves and question our self-worth. We depend on the amount of likes we get on the picture we post and take it down if we aren’t satisfied with the number. It becomes an obsession; communication and approval from strangers that are our “friends” on Facebook that have nothing to do with us in real life. In the end, this network that allows people to “connect” only leaves us with loneliness. The more popular you are online, the more disconnected you are with what is going on around you.

Eggers, Dave. The Circle. New York: Vintage, 2013. Print.

"I CAN'T FRIEND FOR MYSELF Millennials have hundreds of pals online but nobody to hang out with in real life." New York Post [New York, NY] 2 Sept. 2015: 033. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 6 Dec. 2015.

"Social Media - Is It Killing Real Life Human Ties and Interactions? [analysis]." Africa News Service 9 Aug. 2013. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 6 Dec. 2015.

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This User Is Private (3)

We live in a generation where the Internet allows us to FBI (Facebook Investigate) to get the information we need to know about others. We stalk, creep, snoop through people’s timelines and learn every detail about a person’s life in 20 minutes. We know whom they dated in 2011, where they went for spring break in 2006, and that they had Outback for dinner at 6:43 on Friday. We depend on social media posts to inform us where a person is, what they are doing, and who they are with. We have become obsessed with knowing. We fear the unknown. There is nothing more discouraging than clicking on someone’s Instagram and receiving the message “this user is private” on their profile. Or finding a picture your ex recently posted on a ski trip in Lake Tahoe, and not tagging the people he is with. Our generation feels deprived of any information we can’t access on social media; privacy online is unacceptable.

According to The Circle, “Privacy Is Theft”. The frustration of not knowing plays a huge role throughout the book and in our daily lives as well. If someone meets a cute guy and goes home only to find he doesn’t have a Facebook you can investigate, we become annoyed and irritated. This kind of situation is similar to Mae’s frustration and anger when she is not able to look up Kalden on any social media outlet. “Mae cursed the not-knowing, and knew she needed someone who could be known. Who could be located”(The Circle, 197). She feels betrayed and left out in the dark not being about to research and find out information about this mysterious person she keeps encountering.

Cyber-stalking has become a second nature to us. We are obsessed with investigating other people and getting in their minds through social media. Virginia Blackburn at the Spectator says, “It's become a given: we are all stalkers now. Thanks to Google, Twitter, Facebook and the fact that absolutely nobody seems to have the faintest idea about privacy settings, it is easier to keep track of people on the other side of the world than ever it was to snoop on a village neighbor from behind the safety of a lace curtain”(The Spectator). As a generation we are eager to dig into the minds of what others are thinking. We have to know everything about everyone. If someone posts a cryptic depressing love quote on Instagram, automatically we start snooping around trying to figure out whom that quote is directed to. Withholding information from your friends or followers is basically stealing from them. If you are their friend on Facebook, they have a right to know whom you are talking about. This is the way our minds work.

At the end of the book, Eggers has a chilling way to bring this reality to light. As Mae sits and watches her best friend, Annie, as she lays in the hospital bed unconscious, the only thing she can think about is exactly what is on her mind. “Another burst of color appeared on the screen monitoring the workings of Annie’s mind. What was going on in that head of hers? It was exasperating really, Mae thought, not knowing. It was an affront, a deprivation, to herself and to the world. She would bring this up with Stenton and Bailey, with the Gang of 40, at the earliest opportunity. They needed to talk about Annie, the thoughts she was thinking. Why shouldn’t they know them? The world deserved nothing less and would not wait”(The Circle, 497).

Privacy is theft. All that happens must be known.

Eggers, Dave. The Circle. New York: Vintage, 2013. Print.

Blackburn, Virginia. "The friends of others: Everyone you know is stalking everyone else you know--even if they don't know each other." Spectator 7 Dec. 2013: 14. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 7 Dec. 2015.

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Behind Closed Doors

Do you follow any famous celebrity or musician on social media? Then you can probably agree that most of what is written on their page is good. Promotions, positivity, goodness of their heart, sappy posts. Am i right? How about someone who once wasn't famous, didn't have an Instagram, or Facebook, and now that they existed somewhere besides their own comfort zone they are on ALL social media sites? This is because we live through our phone and computer screens, through televisions, and all publicity. The more we are open to the public, the more we are noticed. 

For example, a friend of mine, an Evangelist, singer, and songwriter lived in myrtle beach, South Carolina for over 7 years. During this time he did not work on his music often, he did not appear on television, and he did not tell anyone about who he was. No one in Myrtle beach recognized this man, and when you searched his name, he was pages and pages down in google. As a family friend we would go to social gatherings, the mall, coffee shops, and many more places and never once did anyone recognize him. Since then, he has left and moved back to his home state. He does shows, teaches, produces music all the time, and is now the first pages and pages of a google search. Recently speaking to him, I asked him if he was truly the one posting on his Facebook page, or Instagram, and he told me the real story of his promoters. 

“You are not allowed to be a real person, with real feelings. They don't want you posting about a good burger you ate for lunch, mainly because it backlashes.”

Truthfully, this all makes since to me. Especially in the novel where Mae is talking to Mercer.  “But Mercer, you run a business. You need to participate online. These are your customers, and this is how they express themselves, and how you know if you’re succeeding.” Mae’s mind churned through a half-dozen Circle tools she knew would help his business, but Mercer was an underachiever. An underachiever who somehow managed to be smug about it.” Do you believe that being considered famous has way more cons than pros? You are told that having social networking sites help with your business, so you agree to it. That easily, and you are widespread. You are now a click away. 

Even blogger Evan Dashevsky says that famous people have admitted to paying someone to run their social media sites. Does it all make since now? So if we were to go “transparent” as Dave Eggers The Circle says, what would happen to these celebrities and their privacy? They would have to be themselves, portraying who they really are, and what they really do. 

1.  Daveschsky, Evan. "Who's Actually Writing Your Favorite Celebrity's Tweets?"TechHive. N.p., 16 Sept. 2013. Web. 05 May 2015.

2.  Eggers, David. The Circle. New York: Vintage Books, 2013. Print.

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You’re Being Watched

As the Circle began to expand throughout the book, their number of SeeChange cameras throughout society, campus, and the office grew immensely. Many people got the cameras and installed them in scenic places, with in my mind was a brilliant idea. The Circle’s idea of the SeeChange camera was that of transparency and allowing the world to be able to check up on anything their heart desired at the touch of a finger. They even expanded the SeeChange camera into a wearable device which allows a person to wear the camera on their chest and broadcast their every minute to the world. The Circle designed these wearable cameras and encouraged members of the government and important companies to wear these cameras so the public knows exactly what is going on. No secrets, no lies (Eggers).

At the assembly when Stenton and Congresswoman Oliva Santos speak of transparency, Stenton talks of the first person to take on transparency, Stewart, 

“As you know… transparency is something we advocate here at the Circle. We look at a guy like Stewart as an inspiration—a man who’s willing to open up his life… and it’s been an invaluable asset to the Circle, and soon, I bet, to all of humankind…” (Eggers 206, 207). 

The Circle feels that if nothing was left in the dark, if secrets did not exist, if information was more easily accessible, that the world would ultimately be a better place. People should not be able to check up in anyone’s life whenever they please, though it can be good to know what the government might be up to.

SeeChange cameras and transparency changes the way the wearer interacts with others. People feel as if they are always being watched, therefore they alter their behaviors to seem increasingly better than they actually are. It forces people to think before they speak, which can be good, but not to the point that who you are is altered. SeeChange cameras would be better if it encouraged that the wearers be their true self, without altercations to please an audience who only see the act that the wearer puts up.

The Circle’s survellience takeover has good intentions, but when does it begin to violate basic human rights?

The Circle by Dave Eggers

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SECRETS ARE LIES, SHARING IS CARING, PRIVACY IS THEFT

In Dave Eggers, The Circle, Mae Holland is brought into a new world of communication, privacy, and uniformity. TruYou becomes the one way system of communication between all social media sites and basically everything involving your identity. During Mae’s first week employed for the Circle, she is introduced to many new aspects and basically a new world. She becomes well known for her progress within the company and makes new friend as well as maintaining a friendship with her friend Annie who landed her the job. On the other hand, at a seminar the Mae attends, she is introduced to a camera that is going to change the future, a high quality, HD video recorder as small as a sucker, that is fairly inexpensive. The camera introduced to her is placed secretly all over the world, able to collect sound, move, and capture amazing close up video, all while maintaining its almost invisible position. With this news, Mae is captures by this idea and begins to realize that maybe the world IS ever changing and she has been missing out all along. 

 Jonathan Strickland, is well on target with warning people about the dangers of smart phones, the internet, and everyday actions. In his youtube video “The Internet is Watching You,” he describes how and why we receive ads during a quick search on google, and why they are so related to us. Have you ever received email in your spam box about the medicine your doctor prescribes you, or about a weight loss product? Strickland says that its based off of what you have searched in the past and how long you looked at it. 

For example, in the Circle when Mae took the kayak out without permission and assumed that no one was watching her. One of the cameras that had been placed all over the world was actually keeping an eye on her. This compares in today’s society very much as our problems with identity. Many times we assume that we do not have any eyes on us, and that we are not being watched. Privacy was intentionally a word that meant the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves, or information about themselves, and thereby express themselves selectively, based on a dictionary source. So what happened to privacy? 

Sadly, i believe that the Circle is possibly a nearby future resemblance, and we are the main ones to blame. With crime existing all around us, we inevitably are putting the loss of privacy on ourselves. How about on the local news where they have hidden cameras in Walmarts, intersections, and even in some places restaurants and clubs. How else without these cameras would we spot shoplifters, vandalizers, and other crimes? Even police officers are using these new body cameras to make sure to save their own jobs and lives when something horrible goes down in front of them. Officers are being shamed all because of he said she said debates. So is it truly that we are stealing privacy away from ourselves? This would make sense for the slogan of the Circle, “Privacy is Theft.”

1.  Strickland, Jonathan. "Big Data: The Internet Is Watching You!" YouTube. YouTube, 3 July 2013. Web. 01 May 2015.

2.  Eggers, Dave. The Circle. McSweeney’s. 2013. Print. April 2015.

3. Atwood, Margarett. "When Privacy Is Theft." When Privacy Is Theft by Margaret Atwood. N.p., 21 Nov. 2013. Web. 05 May 2015.

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Circumference

“The weird paradox is that you think you’re at the center of things…” Mercer tells Mae. Dave Eggers offers up crystal clear symbolism in his novel The Circle.

“Had she been possessed by some weird demon?”[263].

“Their remains fell like dust.”[480].

“We saw them devoured by a beast that turned them into ash.”[490].

“This is his rapture, Mae!”[488].

Are you experiencing Déjà vu; are you feeling like you’ve heard similar expressions somewhere else? If you’ve read the Bible, then these symbols are undeniable Dave Eggers has a motive, as always. Mae had been possessed by a demon, the demon of data. The book of Ezekiel tells us Satan threatens, “And I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.” Eggers warns us that the future of our technologically conformed nation is just this: these corporations are killing us. Do we continue to help these big businesses thrive off of our ignorance and give them power over us?

Being the biggest and the best is the goal of every business and company, even the circle. “A circle is the strongest shape in the universe. Nothing can beat it, nothing can improve upon it, and nothing can be more perfect. And that’s what we want to be: perfect.”[289]. Dave Eggers couldn’t be more painfully blunt with his intent of The Circle. In my opinion, The Circle was boring and the storyline was laborious to get into. I cringed reaching for the novel; but somewhere in between abhorrence and ignorance the message presented itself obviously. Eggers doesn’t want us to be into these characters, so he gives them no depth. Eggers wants the readers to see a bigger picture way beyond Mae and Mercer. The Bible references are so obvious and meant to show the evil in technology and big corporate control. What’s happening to Mae throughout the novel is what’s happening to us as a nation. We’re supporting these corporations and becoming blinder to the fact that we’re doing it.

Call the man a luddite if you want, but Dave Eggers is just forshadowing our future and attempting to raise awareness. From page one Eggers holds up the mirror, “My God, Mae thought. It’s heaven.”[1]. Ironic, the ‘heaven’ we know and love is what’s killing us as a nation. Take another look at corporations and big businesses before you sign your soul over; take another look at the big picture. You think you’re at the center of things, but are you really? Maybe it’s time for you, for all of us, to reconsider.

Eggers, Dave. The Circle. New York: Vintage Books, 2013. Print.

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Is Privacy Dead?

Snap-chat, Instagram, Facebook… All of these are just a few of the critical ways that the world is taking your individualism and privacy to the next level. How many accounts do you have, and how many of you use your real name? Well, based on how many people in the world exist, and how many of these easily faked accounts exist, there a lot of people who don’t use real names and a lot who have multiple and multiple accounts. Identity theft is common among this vast world of internet, and it seems as if we are confused with who we truly are. Take Catfish the MTV documentary as an example. 

“From the producers of the acclaimed documentary film, “Catfish,” comes a new MTV series that brings together couples who've interacted solely through their LCD screens. Over the course of months or years - these romantics have become smitten - but what will happen when they meet in real life for the first time?” 

Catfish uses social media as a large example of how the people behind the telephone screen or computer screen may truly not be who they say that they are. It is definitely a new world of communication, with a twist on true identity. In the documentary series, Nev and Max describe the reason for naming the show because of  the definition. They posted on their home page this definition.

catfish [kat-fish] verb: To pretend to be someone you’re not online by posting false information, such as someone else’s pictures, on social media sites usually with the intention of getting someone to fall in love with you.

So, in retrospect, how do we truly know who the person behind the computer screen is, and how do we protect ourselves? Well, if only we were living inside Dave Eggers’ novel, The Circle, we would be able to fix this problem with TruYou. TruYou is a one password, one identity solvent to the mystery we face within social media. McMillan states how in the Circle “TruYou is the password product that made The Circle so powerful.” How entertaining would it be to search for Rihanna’s profile online and know that each one you see is truly Rihanna and not a scam pretending to be her? That is exactly the solution to privacy that the Circle has created. Take for example in the book The Circle when they are discussing who exactly they believe wants to be discrete about their identity on the internet.

“Why would any non-porn site want anonymous users when they could know exactly who had come through the door? Overnight, all comment boards became civil, all posters held accountable. The trolls, who had more or less overtaken the internet, were driven back into the darkness.” -The Circle  

Truth of the matter is, do we all want to be anonymous or do we want to be known? Should we agree that privacy is dead?

1.   McMillan, Graeme. "Headline: Dave Eggers’ The Circle: What the Internet Looks Like If You Don’t Understand It." Wired.com. Conde Nast Digital, 11 Oct. 2013. Web. 01 May 2015.

2. Steve, Henn. “Teens Dig Digital Privacy, If Snapchat Is Any Indication.”All Things Considered (NPR) (2013): Points of View Reference Center. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.