Response:    Lifehacker  and  Watching  Me  

Text  A,  a  post  by  Thorin  Klosowski  on  the  Lifehacker  Web  in  2013,  and  Text  B,  the  lyrics  of  the  song  
“Watching  Me”,  co-­‐written  and  performed  by  Jill  Scott  in  2000  deal  with  the  idea  of  being  watched.      
However,  they  differ  completely  in    

• the  aspects  of  being  watched  that  they  describe,    

• the  perspective  from  which  they  present  their  ideas    
• the  purpose,  structure,  intended  audience  and  stylistic  devices  that  they  
employ  for  effectivity.    

The  title  of  text  A  “What  kind  of  Stuff  do  Employers  Search  for  When  I  apply  for  a  job?”  immediately  
presents  the  topic  of  the  post,  who  is  the  watcher,  who  is  ”being  watched”  and  for  what  reasons:  
employers  do  online  searches  to  find  information  on  potential  employees  that  might  influence  the  
hiring  process.      The  text  is  presented  in  the  form  of  a  letter  written  to  “Lifehacker”,  the  expert,  by  a  
“Worried  Searcher”  and  a  couple  more  questions  along  those  lines  posted  by  other  people.    The  
answer  provided  by  Lifehacker  seeks  to  reply  to  these  questions  by  providing  information  to  the  
readers  and  advising  them  in  relation  to  the  tracks  people  leave  on  Internet  and  how  they  might  
affect  them.  We  could  say  that  the  purpose  of  the  text  is  clearly  informative  and  it  targets  an  
audience  of  people  presumably  in  the  20-­‐30  age  range,  who  are  looking  for  jobs  and  are  active  on  
social  media  and  on  the  Internet.      

Text  B,  the  lyrics  of  the  song  “Watching  Me”  by  Jill  Scott,  present  the  opinions  and  feelings  of  the  
writer  in  relation  to  being  spied  upon  and  watched  by  a  “you”  who  could  be  the  state  or  the  police  
or  a  government  agency.    We  could  say  it  is  a  form  of  protest  against  an  oppressive  entity  that  spies  
upon  citizens  with  “satellites”  over  their  heads,  “Transmitters”  in  their  dollars  and  requires  personal  
information  from  them  with  any  excuse,  like  when  they  buy    “double  or  triple  A  batteries”.    The  
audience  for  this  text  would  be  followers  of  the  singer  Jill  Scott  and  people  who  listen  her  genre  of  
music.  

The  idea  of  being  watched  is  very  different  in  both  texts.    Lifehacker  presents  it  as  something  that  is  
quite  ordinary  for  employers  to  do  (“background  checks  are  common  in  some  industries  and  a  
general  search  online  is  almost  guaranteed  for  every  job  these  days”);  he  doesn´t  seem  to  consider  it  
a  problem  or  a  threat,  but  something  that  can  be  easily  solved;  so  he  sets  out  to  empower  the  
“Worried  Searcher”  by  teaching  him  to  “manipulate  the  information  that  pops  up  on  Google”  so  that  
it  will  be  “all  positive.”    Contrastingly,  the  song  “Watching  Me”  presents  a  much  more  sinister  idea  of  
being  watched:  the  government  or  one  or  more  of  its  agencies  spy  on  citizens  to  control  them  “(how  
and  where  and  with  whom  I  make  my  money”)  and  the  first  person  narrator  has  no  control  or  power  
over  this  situation.    The  song  is  very  subjective  and  we  could  say  that  the  writer  feels  quite  paranoid  
about  the  topic,  as  can  be  seen  by  the  repetition  of  the  chorus  “watching  me”  and  the  references  to  
satellites  and  transmitters.  Here´s  the  interesting  thing,  though:    there  is  really  no  objective  evidence  
about  the  spying  or  any  sinister  purposes  in  the  watching  except  “sa-­‐cure-­‐at-­‐ty”:  cameras  in  stores  
and  dressing-­‐rooms  which  are  quite  ordinary  and  prevent  stealing,  and  a  salesperson  asking  her  for  
“her  phone  number  and  social  security”  which  could  be  a  form  of  establishing  identity  when  paying.    
So  evidently,  the  idea  of  being  watched,  for  Jill  Scott  is  much  more  personal;  from  the  way  she  writes  
 
 
  © David McIntyre, InThinking
  http://www.thinkib.net/englishalanglit 1  
  
 
 
 
(“I  ain´t  got  no  bars  to  this  cage”,  “keep  them  satellites  out”  “watchin’”  )  she  might  be  African  
American  or  belong  to  a  minority  which  feels  oppressed  (“dirty    cops  in  my  community”)      and  at  a  
disadvantage  (can  I  get  that  democracy  and  equality  and  privacy?)  and  is  protesting  against  this  
perceived  “scrutinizing”  by  the  police  or  the  government  who  at  the  same  time  “Keep  saying”  that  
she  is  free.    It  becomes  clear,  then,  that  the  idea  of  being  watched  is  very  different  in  both  texts,  
both  in  the  purpose  of  the  watching  as  in  the  perspective  of  the  narrative  voice.  

Structure  is  very  different  in  both  texts,  in  accordance  with  their  context  and  purpose.    Text  A  
conforms  to  the  layout  of  online  informative  texts  and  manages  to  provide  information  in  an  
attractive  layout,  with  some  images.  The  magnifying  glass  augmenting  the  size  of  the  mask  of  a  
horse  alludes  to  the  themes  f  searching  and  of  separating  identities,  as  it  seems  to  be  a  man  with  the  
mask  of  a  horse.    This  idea  is  also  emphasized  in  another  small  illustration  of  a  businessman  and  a  
man  dressed  in  casual  clothes  .The  text  itself  is  laid  out  as  an  “Agony  Aunt”  letter  and  the  reply.  The  
information  is  provided  in  paragraphs  with  headings  for  the  different  sections  on  what  employers  
will  be  looking  for:    “They’ll  Search  for  you  on  Google,”    “They’ll  run  a  background  check  on  you.”    
Sections  consist  of  short  paragraphs  with  clear  information  and  hyperlinks  such  as  “list  of  details  
about  you”  which  link  to  other  sites.        Text  B,  on  the  other  hand,  at  first  sight  looks  like  a  poem,  
always  happen  with  songs,  but  contains  instructions  which  are  characteristics  of  songs  such  as  
“(repeat”)  and  (x7)  which  means  that  a  line  should  be  repeated  7  times.    It  could  be  said,  then,  that  
both  texts  conform  to  the  typical  layout  of  their  genre.  

Tone  and  language  are  also  very  different  in  both  texts  due  to  the  purpose  they  have.  Text  A  is  
informal,  and  friendly  and  the  narrative  voice  situates  itself  as  a  friend  to  the  reader,  who  gives  both  
information  and  advice  (“Here’s  what  you  can  expect  employers  to  look  for  and  how  you  can  clean  
up  what  they’ll  find,”)  empowering  the  reader  to  be  the  one  who  does  the  cleaning  up  or  makes  the  
necessary  changes.    As  I  mentioned  before,  the  narrative  voice  doesn´t  seem  too  concerned  with  the  
issue  of  online  information  being  researched  as  can  be  seen  in  the  phrase  “you  can  ensure  that  if  
nothing  else,  the  bad  news  is  buried  pretty  deep.”    He  seems  to  think  it  is  quite  easy  to  modify  or  
delete  any  negative  information.    Text  B,  on  the  other  hand,  has  a  highly  paranoid  and  accusatory  
tone,  present  in  the  repetition  of  “Watching  me”  and  when  she  says  that  “first  thing”  when  she  
wakes  up  and  right  before  she  goes  to  sleep  she  thinks,  senses,  feel  like  she´s  under  “some  kind  of  
microscope.”    The  watching  never  ends,  in  her  perspective,  which  is  emphasized  in  the  “ing”  endings  
of  the  actions  “hawking,  watching  scooping,  scrutinizing,  tracking,  finding  out”.    She  feels  watched  
and  controlled  and  suspected  by  everybody      “in  every  dressing  room,  on  every  floor,  in  every  store,”  
practically  persecuted.  She  also  accuses  the  oppressive  “you”  of  being  “blind”  because  they  neglect  
to  see  “the  drugs  coming  into  my  community,  weapons  coming  into  my  community.”  We  can  infer  
she  is  accusing  the  watchers  of  a  hypocritical  attitude  towards  her  minority  or  community,  
suspecting  and  watching  ordinary  people  but  not  being  protective  towards  them.    

To  conclude,  it’s  interesting  to  see  how  Text  A  and  B  present  the  idea  of  being  watched  from  two  
completely  different  perspectives  and  with  different  purposes,  which  in  turn  affect  their  structure  
and  stylistic  devices.  In  my  opinion  both  texts  are  effective  in  achieving  their  purpose.    

 
 
  © David McIntyre, InThinking
  http://www.thinkib.net/englishalanglit 2