Words by Lily Walewski PZ ’30 and Hope Bachman PZ ’30

Graphic by JoJo Rosenworcel PZ ’30

With the introduction of Flock cameras across American cities, popular social media apps openly collecting your data, and ICE agents surveilling the streets without identification in the United States, students have become increasingly accustomed to the government accessing sensitive information about our daily lives. However, instead of resisting the expansion of surveillance, society has fully embraced monitoring as the new cultural norm.

The 5Cs are not exempt from this surveillance; in fact, it’s normalized. While many students oppose the new Flock cameras near campus, most people tend to be more hesitant to criticize how students have contributed to surveillance culture on our own campus.

One example of contribution to privacy intrusion is the @5c.missedconnections account on Instagram. On the account, students can anonymously post a description, or mention by name, someone they interacted with but didn’t have the opportunity to connect with. The account, in theory, helps students build relationships. But does having the ability to reach out anonymously hinder our ability to connect in person?

Rocket Boonlong CM ’30 was posted on @5c.missedconnections. When asked about his initial reaction, Boonlong said he didn’t initially encounter the post firsthand.

“I didn’t see it myself; it was a lot of my friends who sent it to me,” Boonlong said. “I feel like I was being pulled into the social world, your name being out there.”

Boonlong said he was not offended: “It piqued my curiosity. I thought someone was trolling me; it’s kind of turned into a big joke.”

Boonlong expressed how the removedness of the ‘interaction’ did not allow for real connection: “I thought it was kind of funny, but I wouldn’t be able to take it as anything unless I knew who said . . . You connect online, which I feel like is worse than just meeting in real life and talking to people.”

Admitting to feelings on an anonymous Instagram account is easier than doing it in real life, as it takes away the fear of rejection. Scrolling on a dating or social media app can feel nearly as validating as a real-life connection, without having to connect with someone face to face! The experience becomes more manufactured and less personal.

While the account can offer a safe way for students to express small crushes and feelings, it enhances the reliance on anonymity here in Claremont. Boonlong never found out who made the comment, even after he messaged the @5c.missedconnections account. This begs the question of how effective the account is for actually pairing people together, and if not for that, what is the purpose of accounts like @5c.missedconnections?

Almost everyone who is posting on these accounts is not looking to seriously ask out the person they name, as it is clearly meant to be a lighthearted interaction. No matter how serious the intention of the messages is, the people who are being asked out have their privacy intruded on. Being unable to control what is being posted about yourself online can be anxiety-inducing, and should not be normalized on the 5C campus.

Alec Feldman PZ ’30 was also posted on @5c.missedconnections. The post about Feldman questioned his sexuality. People are often so caught up in personal shame around sexuality that they forget that the same anonymity used to protect themselves is the sacrifice of another person’s privacy.

When asked about how he found out about the post, Feldman said that he was in the car with some friends, one of whom showed him the post.

Being afraid to ask someone their sexuality is understandably awkward or scary, but asking about it publicly on social media violates someone else’s personal journey with their sexuality.

Feldman acknowledged this nuance: “This person may have made a fool out of themselves because they’d find out, not only is this guy straight, but he has a girlfriend.”

However, Feldman’s main issue wasn’t with the query into his sexuality, but with our inability to connect in person.

“We’re all adults here, I think people should be okay with talking to people one-on-one, as opposed to going this kind of middle school route,” Feldman said.

Feldman stated, “Technological advancements can be very useful in connecting people, but also it can be very isolating and alienating. There’s less of a human aspect in a digital world.”

Through messaging the account, The Outback learned that @5c.missedconnections is run by a 5C student and their roommate. @5c.missedconnections commented on their views of the account.

“I was ultimately inspired by USC’s Missed Connections account,” one admin said. “It started when I went to USC for a date, kind of got ghosted, and thought it’d be funny if I submitted one about myself, and went f*** it and made one for the 5Cs.”

The admin continued, talking about where they draw the line: ”We try to skip posts that are super weird, vague, about petty drama, or obviously a troll…We’ve definitely had DMs from people asking for submissions about them to be taken down, so we just edit the post and delete their slide.”

The admin clearly considers the comfort of their constituency to some degree, as people can get a submission about them taken down. However, the damage is already done once the post is published. People remain surveilled, and the responsibility lies on a student to protect their privacy. If someone doesn’t use @5c.missedconnections, they may have no idea that they are mentioned, by name or description, on a public Instagram account.

The intention is not to condemn people who post on @5c.missedconnections or the admin, or even the people who run the account with clearly good intentions; but to investigate why the account is used how it is. Instead of documenting traditional missed connections, like meeting someone and forgetting to get their name, the account is generally used to surveil hallway crushes.

It’s hard to fight against surveillance, especially as it is subtly accepted in society. Accounts like @5c.missedconnections are created with fun intentions, meant to connect students in a light-hearted way. However, as demonstrated, they can be co-opted into an almost satirical intrusion whilst detaching from their original purpose of connection. As Alec and Rocket have said, this account is not offensive enough to ruin someone’s college experience, but it can still have an unsettling effect on students. It’s not possible to know how someone will feel about being posted on a public account. Students are being persuaded by the recent uptake in surveillance to accept it, and further it, in the 5C community. The question remains: will digital surveillance threaten our privacy and ability to connect at the 5Cs?