Author: Hal Niedzviecki
ISBN: 978-0-87286-499-3
Publisher: City Lights Books

Click Here To Purchase The Peep Diaries: How We're Learning to Love Watching Ourselves and Our Neighbors

If you are one of those people aged nine to ninety who are addicted to reality TV or Internet social networking and have no idea why you are attracted to it, you may want to pick up a copy of Hal Niedzviecki's The Peep Diaries: How We're Learning To Love Watching Ourselves And Our Neighbors.

Niedzviecki is a Canadian novelist and cultural critic who has published several works of fiction and social commentary. On his blog, he describes himself as writer/thinker and up until now he says he always considered himself a private person. Nonetheless, he is fascinated by people who gladly open themselves up to the whole world knowing full well that they will be watched. They are willing to share, or to use a new word that was added to Webster's New World Dictionary and Thesaurus, “overshare” some very intimate details about themselves. Do they really understand what they are doing?

Why are these people participating in Peep culture such as reality TV, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, MySpace, Facebook, blogs, chat rooms, amateur porn sites, and virally spread digital movies of people?

According to Niedzviecki, Peep culture is our twisted answer to the problem of dehumanizing of humanity. As he states, “When we present ourselves to be watched and commented on, we are, ironically enough, attempting to reclaim our individuality on our own terms. It is not an attempt to show how special or exceptional we are, but rather how ordinary and normal we are, and that we are deserving of human interaction.” The ingredients that play a vital role are the virtuous search for connection and shared meaning and the desire for attention and recognition. Over the course of seven chapters, Niedzviecki fleshes out these findings and explores the various aspects of this phenomenon. He certainly shares some stimulating discoveries with his readers.

The opening chapter gives us a broad overview of Peep culture with the caveat that Peep culture is not only restricted to reality television, although it may be the most obvious and one, we most associate it with. As pointed out, people enjoy having relationships and watching other people. If you step back and think about it, it is very easy to observe the life of someone else either online or on a TV reality show. You are not required to go anywhere or as Niedzviecki states: “Call it surveillance with benefits.” However, as we all realize, it can be very addictive and this is particularly prevalent with blogging where once you start, it is very difficult to stop. Don't we get a kick out of people paying attention to us? As mentioned, there is something seductive about integrating our person seamlessly into our product and becoming our own media property. Some of us even go so far as imagining that this is the first step to something bigger and perhaps even lucrative. Perhaps, we will even become a celebrity.

Niedzviecki next delves into the rise of Peep TV or reality television, where he discusses some interesting findings. Did you know that some of the people who had their houses renovated pursuant to these makeover shows were having difficulty in maintaining the homes that have been built for them? Did you know that most of these reality shows are scripted, and once you are chosen, you have very little say as to how you will be portrayed? The next stop on our journey is an analysis of revealing secrets, which are a deliberate creation of systems revolving almost entirely around the dissemination of personal information such as Twitter. Why do we Twitter? From here Niedzviecki explores the world of surveillance, which is not only restricted to the government watching us but also private individuals and companies watching us. Is this a good thing? What about our privacy, which is given considerable ink in the chapter entitled, Escape from the Castle: Privacy in the Age of Peep. The book ends with the future of Peep and general conclusions.

Readers desiring a critical approach coupled with a thoroughly researched survey of the world of Peep will find The Peep Diaries: How We're Learning To Love Watching Ourselves And Our Neighbors an ideal starting point in understanding this fascinating phenomenon. Niedzviecki has done a great job in examining Peep culture in all its breadth and complexity, although I did find at times, he was repetitive. And as he states in his concluding remarks, Peep is all about contradictions, which is why it's so hard to come to firm conclusions about this phenomenon.”