Santa Clause is Watching You…and So Is His Friend, the “Elf on the Shelf”
We have already discussed the perils of living in a world where we are always exposed to different surveillance methods, whether it takes the form of smartphones, remote cameras, or behavior management applications on devices like watches. How might these seemingly innocuous and even “helpful” devices also be threatening our collective understanding of privacy?
The Elf on the Shelf doll, based on the popular Elf on the Shelf children’s book, has become a full-blown cultural phenomenon in recent years. Yet while for some people, the doll has become a family tradition – one that reminds children to be on their best behavior before Christmas – others, like University of Ontario Institute of Technology Digital Technology Professor Laura Pinto, find that the Elf on the Shelf is “a capillary form of power that normalizes the voluntary surrender of privacy, teaching young people to blindly accept panoptic surveillance and” [deep breath] “reify hegemonic power” (Holley, 2014).
In case you are not familiar with Elf, he started out as a book and now is an actual doll that is used in homes and in schools. The elf story and toy were introduced by Chanda Bell, a onetime Atlanta reading teacher, who wrote a Christmas-themed story to explain how Santa Claus keeps tabs on who is naughty and who is nice (Holley, 2014). The book further describes how the elf hides as he watches them and then later files a report with Santa, who is “the boss.” Over time, the traditional narrative changed to include the hiding, surveillance and back-and-forth travel, aspects of the toy.
Elf is typically posed mischievously in different locations of a child’s house every day. It is through this means of both playful and stealthy monitoring that he encourages children to be on their best behavior. Parents have even gone so far as to litter their social media feeds with photos that depict the elf in different and often strange places (Pinto, 2015).
Alternatively, we might think of the smiling “Elf” as being a bit of a creeper. He’s there to remind us that Santa is coming to town with his bag full of helpers, who are always watching and reporting your behavior to an old white man with unaccountable authority who judges you and manipulates you with largesse or neglect” (Beschizza, 2015).
In the words of Pinto:
“The gaze of the elf on the child’s real world (as opposed to play world) resonates with the purpose of the panopticon, based on Jeremy Bentham’s 18th-century design for a model prison… What is troubling is what The Elf on the Shelf represents and normalizes: anecdotal evidence reveals that children perform an identity that is not only for caretakers, but for an external authority (The Elf on the Shelf), similar to the dynamic between citizen and authority in the context of the surveillance state. Further to this, The Elf on the Shelf website offers teacher resources, integrating into both home and school not only the brand but also tacit acceptance of being monitored and always being on one’s best behavior–without question.
By inviting The Elf on the Shelf simultaneously into their play-world and real lives, children are taught to accept or even seek out external observation of their actions outside of their caregivers and familial structures. Broadly speaking, The Elf on the Shelf serves functions that are aligned to the official functions of the panopticon. In doing so, it contributes to the shaping of children as governable subjects.”
Normalizing Surveillance
So what’s the deal? Are we overreacting here? Not really. If you can manage to exercise even a modicum of critical thinking you’ll find “Elf” operates in such a way that he normalizes the idea of surveillance for parents as well as children. In doing so, Elf helps make future restrictions on our privacy become more easily accepted (Beschizza, 2015).”
Philosopher and cultural theorist Michel Foucault warned of a future in which society is under constant surveillance. He used the concept of the “panopticon” — a model prison watch system designed by 18th-century political philosopher Jeremy Bentham — which he pointed to as a symbol of the way modern societies use surveillance as a form of disciplinary control.
Bentham’s design incorporated a central tower in a circular structure; one that was surrounded by individual prison cells that made it impossible for prisoners to know if they were being watched.
“The whole thing with panopticonism under the Jeremy Bentham structure,” Pinto said, “is that you never quite knew if you were being watched or not and that forced you into behaving in a certain way. The elf is the same way.”
And so it follows that children don’t know if their behavior will be caught by the elf, the possibility is always there and it, therefore, influences their behavior at all times.
“Elf on the Shelf presents a unique (and prescriptive) form of play that blurs the distinction between playtime and real life. Children who participate in play with The Elf on the Shelf doll have to contend with rules at all times during the day: they may not touch the doll, and they must accept that the doll watches them at all times with the purpose of reporting to Santa Claus. This is different from more conventional play with dolls, where children create play-worlds born of their imagination, moving dolls and determining interactions with other people and other dolls. Rather, the hands-off “play” demanded by the elf is limited to finding (but not touching!) The Elf on the Shelf every morning, and acquiescing to surveillance during waking hours under the elf’s watchful eye.
The Elf on the Shelf’s mythos controls the parameters of play, puts the observation of play expressly beyond the child’s control, and defines who gets to touch what during play and who knows about it; it ultimately attempts to dictate the child’s behavior outside of time used for play. It is a very creepy toy!” – Pinto
The Elf on the Shelf, in this manner, “contributes to the shaping of children as governable subjects” If the children are the subjects, then Santa is Big Brother, and his elves are the Ministry of Truth (Pinto).
Briefly put, Pinto’s concern with the Elf on the Shelf phenomenon is that the children see the surveillance, not as a play, but instead accept it as normal and real.
“Elf on the Shelf presents a unique (and prescriptive) form of play that blurs the distinction between playtime and real life.” “Children who participate in play with The Elf on the Shelf doll have to contend with rules at all times during the day: they may not touch the doll, and they must accept that the doll watches them at all times with the purpose of reporting to Santa Claus” The children are at all times subject to an authoritative “elvish gaze” — “similar to the dynamic between citizen and authority in the context of the surveillance state” (Pinto).
“What is troubling,” writes Pinto and her co-author “is what The Elf on the Shelf represents and normalizes: anecdotal evidence reveals that children perform an identity that is not only for caretakers but for an external authority (The Elf on the Shelf). This is similar to the dynamic between citizen and authority in the context of the surveillance state.”
The social conditioning occasioned by Elf sets up children (who grow up to be college students) for the uncritical acceptance of policing and surveillance structures. But who really knows? Elf could also just be a toy. What do you think?
Sources:
Huffington post article, featuring the work of Dr. Laura Pinto, professor of digital education at the University of Ontario Institute Of Technology.
“The Elf on the Shelf is Preparing Your Child to Live in a Future Police State, Professor Warns,” by Peter Holley, 2014.
Discussion Questions:
How does social media function in ways that mimic the “watching eyes” of the elf? Does social media surveillance make you feel safe or suspicious? Does the idea that media companies are watching you/tracking you cause you to change and/or modulate your behavior?
Do you make use of surveillance technology anywhere in your home?
What do you think about the concept of privacy? Do you feel entitled to privacy? Are you willing to trade privacy rights for security?
How do you define social space in terms of “public” vs. “private?” For example, do you consider the streets to be public? What about your email or information contained on your cell phone?
Capitalistic empire is willing to satisfy their money greed selfish desires, in any way possible, even if that means taking drastic measures to invade your personal information. The power of capitalism exerts complete force and discipline into people so deeply, to the point where there controlling their every move to make sure they’re getting the most profit out of what their doing. As Gothman shed light to, these institution regulate and completely strip us from our identity in order to create us into their robotic machines and exert complete control over us.
The different forms of surveillance make me feel suspicious. Everything we write on google, images we post on our social media, account information, addresses, locations are being surveillanced. Capitalist have access to about everything we do and it is scary. What happened to privacy? In our contemporary state, everything is driven with the incentive to make money. Because of social surveillance, I am no longer able to have my location settings or even phone turned on the whole day. I feel like Im in house arrest and I have gps device on me, tracking everything I do.
I do make use of surveillance technology. I have cameras installed in the front and back of my house. Living in a insecure neighborhood, leaves you without any choice. Especially since I had my brothers friend breaking into my house. Personal incidents like this, I think is appropriate to install surveillance, especially if it’s for the bell being of the community.
There’s definitely a difference between private surveillance, which invades your personal information and installing surveillance for the means of protecting the community. Most information online is sold to other business, for the intent of making profit, . If the city installs surveillance to help the community be safer, that’s not a problem. It can actually decrease reckless driving, criminal activity; robberies, rapes and ect. Without this public surveillance just imagine the country we’d be living in. It would be like living in a third world country, people would drive reckless, steal from each other, and have no sort of regulation towards their behavior. If anything I think that public surveillance improves the community, more than harming it. Public surveillance helps maintain a safe community. Unless some public surveillance is run by capitalist, in intentions to exploit us more. Private surveillance is not acceptable, they have access to our personal information and sell it to other businesses. What benefit do we have in that? We just become another puppet which help drive profit for the rich capitalist.
capitalistic empire is willing to satisfy their money greed selfish desires, in any way possible, even if that means taking drastic measures to invade your personal information. The power of capitalism exerts complete force and discipline into people so deeply, to the point where there controlling their every move to make sure they’re getting the most profit out of what their doing. As Gothman shed light to, these institution regulate and completely strip us from our identity in order to create us into their robotic machines and exert complete control over us.
The different forms of surveillance make me feel suspicious. Everything we write on google, images we post on our social media, account information, addresses, locations are being surveillanced. Capitalist have access to about everything we do and it is scary. What happened to privacy? In our contemporary state, everything is driven with the incentive to make money. Because of social surveillance, I am no longer able to have my location settings or even phone turned on the whole day. I feel like Im in house arrest and I have gps device on me, tracking everything I do.
I do make use of surveillance technology. I have cameras installed in the front and back of my house. Living in a insecure neighborhood, leaves you without any choice. Especially since I had my brothers friend breaking into my house. Personal incidents like this, I think is appropriate to install surveillance, especially if it’s for the bell being of the community.
There’s definitely a difference between private surveillance, which invades your personal information and installing surveillance for the means of protecting the community. Most information online is sold to other business, for the intent of making profit, . If the city installs surveillance to help the community be safer, that’s not a problem. It can actually decrease reckless driving, criminal activity; robberies, rapes and ect.. Without this public surveillance just imagine the country we’d be living in. It would be like living in a third world country, people would drive reckless, steal from each other, and have no sort of regulation towards their behavior. If anything I think that public surveillance improves the community, more than harming it. Public surveillance helps maintain a safe community. Unless some public surveillance is run by capitalist, in intentions to exploit us more. Private surveillance is not acceptable, they have access to our personal information and sell it to other businesses. What benefit do we have in that? We just become another puppet which help drive profit for the rich capitalist.
When I am reading the “The Elf on the Shelf”, I can’t help to think of the “a police will take you away” in my home country, I remember that when I was young, I had been told by parents or other adults, if I don’t behave, a police will take me away. Police’s job is to take the criminal to jail, so if a child doesn’t behave well, so he/she turns to bad one or criminal? I believe this kind of story still being used by adults also the elf on the shelf that told the children that someone is watching them and make them feel afraid and behave themselves. I think this is a bad idea to make children discipline themselves, they may don’t understand why they need to behave, but they behave themselves because they scared of someone will take them away or they will not on the “nice” list and won’t have a gift from Santa.
The social surveillance in the public t make me feel safe sometimes since I know there is a surveillance there, so no one can easily to rob or hurt me in the street. But I won’t change or modulate my behavior even though I realize there are surveillances everywhere in the streets. I learned that from Foucault that “individuals are under constant surveillance and regulation in ways that are often subtle and thereby seemingly invisible, leading to normalization and acceptance of such systems.” So I think we are being lead to feel normal and accept to this surveillance system. So the elf on the shelf as a function of the panopticon that can make children as governable subjects, regulated in that ways by their parents, so we are under surveillance and regulation even when we are in a young age, maybe not being raised under the story of the Elf on the shelf but somehow in other ways.
The surveillance in the house does make me feel suspicious. In the church which I usually go, there was no cameras in the specify room before, only in the hallway and outside the wall of the building. They installed at least 4 cameras in each room for the purpose of properties protection, the cameras make me feel weird because I noticed that I am being monitored and I noticed I kind of change my behavior especially when I am alone.
I’ve heard of elf on the shelf but I never knew the concept behind it. I actually don’t think it’s a good idea because I don’t think it’s normal to have your child being watched by an elf on the shelf. The elf on the shelf is also put around the Christmas holidays, so that children will be good only on the Christmas holidays. If they’re good on the Christmas holidays, they will be rewarded with gifts. It will start to be a tradition when the holidays come around and children will get accustomed to be good only on the holidays because they know they are being watched.
I have an iPhone 6 and there are times that the surveillance on it makes me feel uncomfortable. Whenever I take a picture, and go on Facebook to post, it will already show me pictures I have taken. Since Facebook has access to my camera, it will give me suggestions of pictures I should post. It’s really weird to me because I don’t think a social media website should have access to your camera. Another thing that Facebook does is ask for your number and then asks you if you want your Facebook contacts in your own personal contacts. I have about 400 friends on my Facebook, chances are I don’t talk to more than half of them. I don’t see the need to have people’s numbers on my phone that I barely talk to.
If I am looking at a website and I begin to browse for some shoes I like and close the website and begin to surf another website, I quickly see the same exact shows I was looking at in the previous website. The one thing I like about this is I get to see suggestions of what I want to buy. Or if I am on amazon and I begin to look at an item, I’ll get emails on similar items even for a cheaper price. There are certain aspects of surveillance that do make me uncomfortable but there’s some that don’t bother me as much.
I read a story on the news a while ago on how a woman was robbed in her neighborhood by a young man. The man was caught because there were cameras within a 3-block radius. The camera caught where the man ran, where he went after and the police ended up catching him. The reason they caught him was because of the surveillance in the woman’s neighborhood. I recently moved to the Bronx and a couple months ago, the landlords decided to install cameras in our elevators. The reason for this was because there was a robbery around my neighborhood. The surveillance got a picture of the man, who he robbed and where he was headed. To some extent, I think surveillance can make me feel safe because it can be helpful to solve crimes around the community where you live.
I consider the streets to be a public place and your home, your cellphone and emails to be private. I could be at a restaurant and if I take a picture, my iPhone will inform me my location and what places are nearby. I don’t like feeling like I am being tracked down by my own device. I think that’s where I draw the line with surveillance.
Our family doesn’t believe in cameras in the house because of respect for privacy. However, my uncle just got a camera system in his house and there is a camera in every room of that house except the bedrooms and bathrooms. I have no idea if it records voice too but now every time I go to his house I watch what I say. Your family’s house is supposed to be a space where you feel comfortable and at ease. Now, I just feel watched all the time. I have to watch what I do and watch what I say when they’re not around because the camera’s are always around. I feel weird having a conversation with my mom in the living room while my uncle is in the kitchen because I think that he might go watch what we were saying later on. It’s created such an uncomfortable situation and I don’t know how my cousins don’t feel the same way. If I knew that I was being watched and heard in my own house, I would go crazy. Just the thought of constantly being watched would make me so anxious and paranoid. I don’t feel safe anywhere there are cameras and don’t understand when people do. What are the cameras going to do for you if something happens to you? Are the cameras going to come alive and help you? I don’t think so. The most the cameras will do for you is help find the person that did something to you or something you own. I do feel myself modifying my behavior when I see cameras. How is changing how I act and respond to things making me feel safe? Surveillance is beneficial to those who use it to get information, not the bystanders walking past them.
In all of my years of living I have never heard of the elf on the shelf. This was the first time of me hearing it. Its actually kind of scary that we have a toy watching everything that children are doing. I could understand nanny cameras with all the child abuse going on but that’s about as far as it go.
We now live in a world where everything we do is be watched. I have even heard the people are watching you through your webcam of your computer even when its not on. My aunts now put something in front of the webcam to block it. But all in all we are always being watched. If you ever take a second and look around you will notice a lot of the cameras that are around. In our text it spoke of a panopticon which was used in jails to watch over the inmates to keep order. This sounds like whats going on here. People are constantly being watch so the higher power can try and catch things that are out of place. Everything we do is tracking us, from the credit cards that now have chips in them to our id’s at Hunter to our proud and joy cell phones. Cellphones are the best thing they made to keep in contact with people but it now really does take on that smartphone name. It truly knows a lot about us.But don’t get me wrong some surveillance is good. Especially in dangerous areas but I do believe its getting out of hand. I honestly don’t believe we can do anything in today’s day and age without being watched and that’s horrible. What about our privacy. Soon we will have cameras in our apartments watching our day to day activities and that’s a scary thing to think about.
The Panopticon was used by Jeremy Bentham, as the name for an architectural design which he developed. In Bentham’s design the inmates in the cells were not able to tell they were being watched so therefore they would behave as though they were watched the whole time. This model ultimately removed the need for any kind of external supervising presence whatsoever. In discipline an Punishment Foucault explains that the panoptical is efficient because “It is the fact of being constantly seen, of being always able to be seen, that maintains the disciplined individual in his subjection”.
The social technologies we see in use today are fundamentally panoptical. In the age of social networks we find ourselves coming under a vast grid of surveillance. Our media and devices put us under the threat of constant surveillance. Our devices know where we live and the places we frequently visit. In the mornings, as I’m about to leave my house my phone will tell me the weather and how long it will take me to get to Hunter College by my normal route. Meaning, social media has an ability to monitor actions an individual takes. Our devices are also intrinsic to contemporary surveillance activities, such as wiretapping telephone conversations, using cameras to find individuals in hiding, tracking people with biometric data, creating databases to process this information.
Molly Thomas
When I graduated from my small suburban high school ten years ago we didn’t have cameras in the hallways, ID passes to enter and leave the school’s premises and the internet was mainly used for writing and researching papers along with chatting on AIM with friends. Today, the school has cameras in all the hallways and stairwells, along with a few campus security officers and the only way to exist the school during school hours is through the main office, where someone has to let you out and allow you back in. While I understand these changes are a response to the many school shootings that have occurred throughout the past decade, and is viewed as a way to make the school a safer place for students, it serves as another way to surveille students and control their behavior.
With the rise in technology, teachers have begun to post online their students grades and whether or not they are turning in their homework. These posts are accessible to parents, so they can monitor their child’s progress in school. This type of surveillance reminds me of the grown up version of the elf on the shelf- someone is always watching them. They have no room for mistakes or bad behavior, which let’s be honest, is a huge part of the learning process. In this way students become moldable and easily controlled subjects in society.
The argument made for a surveillance society could be that it would make the society safer by holding people accountable for their actions. I find that it surveillance technology is a useful tool to monitor and ensure desired behavior. As a child, my neighbors had outdoor cameras installed at the front door of their house; its purpose was to keep us kids out of their yard during play. As the result, their garden flowers were always in perfect condition as opposed to other plant life on the block. In this instance, the use of surveillance was able to guard their property by influencing behavior. Similarly, I can imagine a company using surveillance technology to guard their money by ensuring their employees are productive at all times.
However, surveillance can also strip people of their privacy and there is a possibility of misuse of information if it is unregulated. With access to patterns of personality, actions, interests and the like, anyone tech-savy can potentially use this information for their personal interest or profit. With surveillance technology, comes a growth of exploitable data. The question then becomes, what is appropriate for surveillance? And who is intended to have access to it?
Amory Cumberbatch
I can’t help but think of “big brother” when I read the elf on the shelf. The idea that someone is constantly looking at you is type creepy and invasive. To me it is another method used to make individuals conform to the particular environment they are placed in. I can understand someone’s argument, that having this panoptical method makes him or her feel safe but I will assume that this individual has been conditioned and not told the truth about what is and what’s not acceptable. One cannot truly live and enjoy life to the fullest without constantly worrying if they’re doing the right think or having to consult with others on whether or not they should or shouldn’t do something. This panoptical method is only form a sense of dependency, therefore taking away the privilege of autonomy.
Take for instance the use of cell phones. This is the 21st century and the uses of cell phones are important to some, and more and more of the younger generation are highly dependent on this device. I for one do not allow my children to freely use a cell phone. As a parent I am more concerned about the quality of their education than whom they are interacting with, therefore they do not own a cell phone. I take responsibility for the whereabouts of my children than trading off that responsibility on a device.
It is with the use of these cell phones along with the greater advantage of modern technology that the idea of “Big Brother/ Elf on the Shelf” watching that we should bring awareness of the importance of autonomy. It is so ironic that just this week I learned of two cases involving Apple refusal to create a program to unlock it’s phones. In both cases, one in California involving the FBI and the other in New York involving the Justice Department they are asking Apple to allow them access to search the phones for evidence. A ruling by a federal judge in Brooklyn, Judge Orenstein ruled in favor of Apple stating that “if Congress wanted companies like Apple to help the Justice Department, it would have required them to do so through laws like the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act of 1994, which requires phone companies to allow the government to use their networks to conduct surveillance. “ This is a shot at the elf on the shelf. Even though the US is known for secretly spying on citizens this ruling is good in the sense that people can feel some sort of relief of the type of information that they store and their device and it not being monitored by the elf on the shelf.
Below are links to the two current cases mentioned in the response.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/02/opinion/the-iphone-stays-locked-for-now.html?ref=topics&_r=0
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/02/technology/apple-and-fbi-face-off-before-house-judiciary-committee.html