THE FOLLOWING
We are living in an information era. The Internet, monitors and CCTV are everywhere. People are surveilled by all of this. Most people hate this surveillance, but some also use it to look into other people’s lives. This is the paradox.
“FOR MOST OF MY LIFE, I DID DELIBERATELY LEAD A PRIVATE LIFE AND INADVERTENTLY LED A PUBLIC LIFE.”
—CHELSEA CLINTON
06
01
What do we read everyday?
02
12
TABLE OF CONTENTS
What do we hear everyday?
What do we see everyday?
03 20
The conclusion of the book
04
28
CHAPTER 01
What do we read everyday?
READ
People receive tons of information every day. Now, it is hard for people to avoid receiving that information. Whenever we are driving downtown or sitting on BART, we are processing that information, which ranges from a little to a lot. There is research that shows that one American will read at least 5,000 advertisements per day. This phenomenon also shows that American consumers are in an era where information is overwhelming.Every day, people are exposed to— “bombarded by” or “inundated with”—too many advertising messages.
04/23/2017 02:13 P.M. 399 4th St, San Francisco, Whole Food Market
“Wow, dwarf Tyrion.I still don’t know his real name”
04/27/2017 10:43 A.M. 1150 El Camino Real, San Bruno
08 READ
“It’s Jennifer Aniston again!“
Peter Dinklage
01.01 However, we do not only receive the advertisements in our lives. There are many different kinds of information around us. Sometimes people will take the initiative to read these messages. For example, people will read social media gossip or celebrity stories. The reason people are interested in gossip is because we have a great deal of curiosity about other people’s lives, and we like to spy on each other. I recorded the times when I saw famous people in magazines or newspapers during one week.
05/01/2017 03:25 P.M. San Bruno Bart station, Barnes&Noble Booksellers
“Who is she?”
Cameron Diaz
10 READ
01.02 Gossip magazines (sometimes referred to as tabloid magazines) are magazines that feature scandalous stories about the personal lives of celebrities and other well-known individuals. This genre of magazine flourished in North America in the 1950s and early 1960s.
Although this “gossip industry� brings great financial benefits in this field, it still have a huge negative effect on people’s lives. Because of the development of the gossip industry and culture, private protection becomes more difficult than before. We are beginning to enter an era when everything is built on data, and keeping things private has become more difficult than before. The gossip industry makes more than $3 billion per year.
CHAPTER 02
What do we hear everyday?
LISTEN
Besides the things we read on the street, we also receive so much information through our ears. This may include some random conversations, noise or even music we hear every day. All of these sounds make up our audio world. We are especially impact by all the phone calls we receive, and these phone calls are also being listened to by our government. “I don’t think they’re recording all of it; there are about 3 billion phone calls made in the USA every day. And then around the world, there are something like 10 billion a day.” But, there is a “target list, which is somewhere on the order of 500,000 to a million people,” Binney, who works in marketing, explained.
14 LISTEN
02.01 On my way go back home, I always hear to some conversations or other people’s phone calls. Some of them I listen to and forget, but for others, I may remember some pieces of the conversations. In this chapter, I’m paying some attention to what people say on the street.
02.02
“Xxxxxxxx xxx? Xxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx.“
“In real life I do a lot of reconnaissance and then kind of choose the guy I’m going to go after. Not like stalking, but I just want a little background info.”
xxx xxxx xxx. Xxxx xxx xxxx xxxxxxxx. Xxxxx!“
“Xxxxx xxx xxx. Xxxx xxxx xxx xxxxx xxx xxx.“
—CLAIRE COFFEE
Music List: 1. Rich Girl 2. My Own Kind 3. Sara Smile 4. It’s a Laugh 5. Wait for me
16 LISTEN
“Xxxx
When I was living in Soma Square, it just took me about 15 minutes to get back home from 79 New Montgomery. On the way home, the most common conversations I heard were about school life, school projects and finals. Sometimes, I might also hear people talk about their day or work. 79 New Montgomery
Soma Square
00:13:47 min
“Xxx xxxxxx xxx xxxxxxxxxxxx!”
x xxxx xxxxx xxxxxx xxx xxx. Xxxxx xxx xxx.” “Xxxxxxx? Xxxxxxx xx?” “Xxxx xxxxx xxx.”
“Xxxx xxxx xxxxx xxxxx
“Xxxx xxxx xxxxx xxxxxx xxx xxx.”
“Xxxxxxxx.”
02.03
01:05:12 m How much time do I need to go back to home?
Now, I’m living in San Bruno. It takes me almost one hour to go back to home. I’m not walking home anymore. I’m sitting on the Bart and going back to home. It’s a totally different environment when I sit on Bart and try to listen to other people’s conversations. People are not really talking on Bart because of the noise. However, sometimes I still can hear some people laugh or call their family on Bart. Not only me, but also other people may listen to people’s talking and gossip. My roommate always talks about the gossip what she hears from her classmates or she hears on the street. It is a really normal phenomenon that people are always curious about other people’s lives.
“Xxxxx xxx xxx. Xxxx xxxx xxx xxxxx xxx
“Xxxx xxxxx xxx.”
18 LISTEN
min
79 New Montgomery
San Bruno Bart Station
“Xxxx xxxx xxxxx xxxxxx xxx xxx.”
x xxx.“
“Xxx xxxxx xxx. Xxxx xxx xxxx xxxx xxx.“
“Xxx xxxxxx xxx xxxxxxxxxxxx!”
CHAPTER 03
What do we see everyday?
SEE
The Internet is developing so fast that people can do anything on IT. Everyday we post lots of things on social media, such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. The internet is becoming the biggest stage to propagate gossip. It is not difficult to imagine that the first thing we do after we turn on the phone is check the newest posts on social media. Social media is becoming the most convenient way to help people look into others lives.
03.01
More than one billion people are active on Facebook. More than 100 million people use Instagram every month.
Before when people mentioned that someone was following them, it wasn’t considered a good thing. It might mean there are people who are following you and spying on you. “Peeping Tom” may become the nick name for the people who are following you. However, the meaning of the word “following” is changing now. Now, when our phones show a message that “xxxx has requested to follow you”, we will know there is a person who wants to know something about our lives. According to the critical called “Facebook announces new data center in Altoona”, more than 100 million people use Facebook each month. People are using this social media to know what is happening in other’s lives. If I am curious about some one, and I want to spy on his or her life, I will follow them on the Internet. Thus, in this era, we are not spying on people by going behind them anymore, but we are following them on the Internet. People can follow anything they are curious about on social media.
LISTEN 23
03.02
WHO DO YOU WANT TO FOLLOW?
When I researched “Who do I want to follow?� on the Internet, I found out the most common names are super stars or successful businessmen. People are really curious about how famous people become successful or what is happening in their lives. When any celebrity stories show up, people will become interested in it. You can see now people research any news that may relate to the story and share it with their friends.
24 LISTEN
“People on Twitter can follow tech if they’re interested in tech, or business if they’re interested in business, or they can follow celebrities that they’re fans of them.” —JONAH PERETTI
03.03
WHO ELSE DO YOU WANT TO FOLLOW? However, it not only about famous people. We are also curious about our friends’ lives. Sometimes we will imagine many stories just based on what our friend posts on Facebook or Instagram. We may be curious about our friends’ relationships or their secrets. This is such a paradox. Will Rogers said: “The only time people dislike gossip is when you gossip about them.” However, most people can’t stop gossiping about others because it has already become part of the culture and the customs of our society.
26 LISTEN
FOLLOWING FOLLOWING FOLLOWING
CHAPTER 04
The conclusion of the book
END
We know to spying on other people’s lives is not a great thing, but people are still doing this. It is such a paradoxical phenomena. We are spying on into other people’s lives by listening, by reading and by checking the Internet. Personal privacy is not easy to protect anymore. We hate other people looking for our secrets, but we also try to find out about any interesting things in other person’s lives. This is the life we have to experience every day.
— FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
“WHEN YOU LOOK INTO AN ABYSS OF SECRETS, THE ABYSS ALSO LOOKS INTO YOU.”