attention industry

The Panoptic Dilemma: 3

False boundaries are the next major battleground in the effects of social media on human social patterning and communication. They aren’t false in terms of being based on deceit, they’re just accepted boundaries that were created in support of flawed behavioral systems. Much in the way online documentation will force a redefinition of how indiscretions should be addressed, the boundary between personal / private, professional / social, and friends / acquaintances are blurring heavily, and the assumption these worlds can and will remain separated needs to come into question.

No genuine social interaction can exist without persistent identity. This doesn’t mean literal identity, but a consistent username or handle is essential to build connections. As real names are becoming more common, persistent identity is making it difficult to separate personal and professional identities. To maintain a full-featured online presence for a separate work and home self is a double shift, in something that is already a full-time proposition. At best, this separation reduces the impact of unnecessary prejudices on work or social life. At worst, it reduces context and understanding; you don’t work with or hire a resume, you work with people. People are full featured, and deeper understanding leads to deeper synchronicity.

Boundaries are best managed by different levels of access to the same data set. Not separating identities, but separating types of access. This can happen by channel, by permission level, or by technological literacy. Maintaining separate data sets on one platform related to your identity and actions online is essentially the definition of duplicitous. Assigning levels of information to levels of trust, however, is an adaptation of an established and justifiable human behavior to the online space.

As social capital becomes a key component of so many tasks, the idea that social and professional have a hard boundary becomes problematic. The actions in either space have an impact on overall identity, which in turn defines interpretation in both social and professional life. Again, this comes to a point where we need to decide if we will redefine acceptable behavior, or police ourselves into falsified behaviors.