Engl. transl.: Social Media And Instagram Mothers In The Context Of Surveillance Society

Information and communication technologies that have become increasingly common in the world we live in have taken the place of traditional media. Thus, in our day, information transfer and sharing process is skipping the dimension. Social media transforms individuals into voluntary participants in surveillance, while obliging their users to share. People often share their privacy in the social media while peeping in their homes. This brings to mind the surveillance society. Surveillance society confronts with the concept of panoptikon. This concept, which means prison surveillance, evolves as an observer of the individual to social media. Surveillance tools are used as a means of entertainment when privacy is lost in social media. So that the subject becomes the object of surveillance. Instagram is one of the ways that women, especially those who are first mothers, exist in the virtual world. Virtualized mothers need to record every minute of the child and share it with others. Child of mother’s popularity through her identity and privacy, and consequently her business income, leads to new ethical debates. This study will examine instagram mothers in the context of identity and privacy in the surveillance society. Aim of this study, to bring a critical perspective to the concept of motherhood transformed by social media.

In this study, it has been determined that Instagram mothers create a new sense of self over their children, share their children's and their own most private areas through shopping lists, satisfy their maternal feelings and generate commercial income from this within the scope of the surveillance society. However, in the Instagram accounts examined, it is seen that mothers present their children as a commodity with a narcissistic attitude over maternal satisfaction. The basis of this behavior is the motivation of mothers to show themselves like a star by bringing their babies to the forefront. The main reason for this is that individuals perceive the shares they make on virtual networks as a show. Thus, while the boundaries of privacy areas are very sharp in the real world, it is seen that individuals escape from this perception of reality in social media accounts. Here, while the protective attitude of mothers on their children is flexible, they show their lives to other users through their own identity with a utilitarian perspective. (Bostan et al., 2017, pp.320-321) (translated by the coder)