Surveillance Camera Field Trip

This entry describes my thoughts upon reflection of our class field trip last Wednesday, which took place around downtown Vancouver. We took pictures of surveillance cameras in retail shops, banks, on the streets, and in at the post office.
I spent some time thinking about what the field trip meant to me. I was surprised at first at how unconcerned I was about the number of cameras. When I was a teenager I remember being frightened by signs in retail shops that stated in glaring capital letters that I was under surveillance. I remember instantly feeling like a criminal when I would look up at these signs. I would usually leave because somehow I felt unwelcome in the area. I remember the sense of unease wouldn’t leave me right away but would linger and follow me out of the building until conversations with friends or other activities would replace the feeling with the usual carefree attitude of youth.
Thinking about this made me wonder what has changed. Why do I no longer feel like a criminal when I look up at these signs and these cameras. I think first of all it’s that many of the signs have disappeared and the cameras are now mostly hidden. Public surveillance is becoming incognito. I think the other reason is that the cameras are everywhere and I’ve come to accept them as common-place as street lights. I wonder if this parallel means that the cameras prevent me from doing anything illegal because I’m being watched just as the streetlights prevent me from crossing on a red because I know I may be ran over. This is not a happy thought, to think that the only reason that I’m not a criminal is because I’m being watched. It makes me wonder how this affects the psyche of society as a whole. Then again, maybe I’m just thinking about this too much?