I did not, as my beloved Packers invited me to do, tag myself in the “Ultimate Lambeau Selfie” the folks at 1265 emailed me earlier this week.
In fact, initially I was pretty horrified by the idea that, while I earnestly, occasionally loudly, and with alternating expressions of glee and disappointment, cheered my team on, someone was snapping action shots of my face.
Packer fan Laura has an animated and not-always-for-public-view face.
Also, no matter how closely you zoom, is a picture of 78,000 people really a selfie? And aren’t selfies photo files you review carefully and maybe edit a little before you post?
These are the concerns I had when my sister Kathy texted me an introduction to the Packers Fancam with a picture of mine and my daughter’s righteous frustration.
Katherine thought it was pretty funny.
“Bahahaha we look appropriately disappointed by the Pack,” she wrote.
I, meanwhile, dropped everything and immediately loaded the “fancam” to see what other pictures of my goofy mug random strangers could scroll.
Then, intrigued, I zoomed around a little to see who else I could find and what their faces happened to be doing while our Packers were playing their worst game in recent memory.
I spent a little time musing over whether I would have that fancam on my mind at the next home game and, therefore, spend four quarters holding my face so its good side always faced the field and then freezing it in a dishonest expression of composure.
That did not sound appealing to me.
The truth is, we ceded any semblance of privacy to innovation a long time ago.
A gust of wind caught my cute summer dress several years back as I exited my kids’ high school and I wasted a moment or two wondering how many security cameras had witnessed the undignified display. Then I laughed.
What else are we going to do?
I know from experience that grocery store cameras can zoom in so tightly they can read the serial numbers off a couple of bills dangling from a self-checkout register. If they can see that, what else can they see?
I know my Google search history isn’t private but I also know it isn’t very interesting. I know my house appears on Google maps in various seasons and with varying degrees of yard tidiness. But I don’t really worry about that.
I understand that store loyalty cards track my purchases and spending habits, which only freaks me out when I have the time to think too hard about it.
It’s been 38 years since 1984, plenty of time for Big Brother to make himself comfortable in our lives.
That’s just the truth.
We all try to be careful with our personal information and mindful of the things we post, text and email. But, we also only get so much time on this planet and we want to enjoy ourselves while we’re here.
So, I’m going to let the Packers Fancam do its thing and I’m going to let my face do its thing too.
Go Pack Go!
