Embracing the Digital Panopticon: Perceptions of Safety and Utility of Location Sharing Among College Students

• In Event: Carceral Studies

Abstract

As location sharing applications such as Life360, Google Maps for Android, and Apple’s
Find My iPhone have continued to integrate into the smartphone user experience for
ease of use, there has been limited research examining the perceptions of those who
use location sharing applications. Using quantitative and qualitative data, we explore the
relationship between location sharing application use among college students and their
perceptions of why they have embraced digital surveillance. Using Foucault’s
panopticism as the primary analytical framework, we contextualize shifting perceptions
of control, coercion, and subversion of digital surveillance among college students. We
will discuss three persistent perceptions – fear of crime, utility of smartphone
applications, and parental involvement and anxiety – driving the embrace of surveillance
through the digital panopticon of location sharing applications.

Authors

• Rebecca Malinski, Moravian University

• Della J. Winters, California State University, Stanislaus

• Thomas Vander Ven, Ohio University

• Cara Finnegan, Ohio University