A brave new world has emerged for our children. Whereas once bullying was confined to the school yard, or the back hall, now bullying penetrates into every aspect of their life space. At night, alone, in their bedroom, surrounded by family, our children have become targets, and victims. What are we going to do and who are we going to turn to? As Nat King Cole once sang, "Straighten out and fly right..."

I've said it before and I'll say it again Facebook ain't your friend. From the facile and shallow way it connects people to the awesome power it gives authorities to monitor and surveille, Facebook is a technology born not in the hallways of emancipation and freedom but in the byways of power and control. Or at least, that's what Julian Assange founder of WikiLeaks thinks and frankly, I tend to agree. Never before in this history of this planet have so many been monitored by so few with so little responsible oversight.

Is it really possible to have 800 "friends." Does connecting through FaceBook really mean you're connected in life? Or does the proliferation of one-click social media really represent the emasculation OF human social contact? Like the reduction of human marriage to the consumerist frenzy of the marriage ceremony, new technologies do not necessarily mean a better life, better friends, or deeper connection. In fact, perhaps exactly the opposite. New social media elevate superficial social display to epic proportions and neuter the supportive and transformative potential of authentic human relations. Viva la revolution... NOT!

Now here's a kick in the head. They know where you are. And by "they" I mean everybody. Anybody with even a minimum online presence in today's surveillance/social networks leaves a global footprint that anybody can trace. Sounds reasonable if you are thinking about the police I suppose. Why worry if you don't have anything to hide right? But what about organized criminals? Far more useful it is for them to know when you are out on your own, away from home, vulnerable, and alone. Don't have any enemies? No exes looking to beat you down? Don't know anybody that wants to take things from you? Then you have nothing to fear! Tweet away but just be aware, "they" are watching you.

As a sociologist I've always been interested in surveillance. Jeremy Bentham, Foucault, Orwell. Like it or not surveillance is an aspect of the industrial and post-industrial world. It's been talked about for centuries and dystopian authors like Orwell, sociologists like Foucault, and others have worried about the future directions and the implications of total surveillance and control. Well, almost 30 years after 1984 is the Ministry of Truth finally here and right under our noses? Don't be shy. Show us your face and tell us "what's on your mind" today.