Anyone have a fear they are being videotaped or recorded?

ZonedOut wrote:The more I get stressed, the more I get paranoid, and being videotaped or recorded is one of my main ''themes''. It kinda sucks, in a world where everyone besides me is carrying around smartphones. I never feel like I can talk freely when there is a smartphone in the room, out of fear of being recorded. I also covered the web cam and microphone of my laptop for the same reasons. I try not to care too much about it though, if only to keep sane. When I feel bothered by it, I try to ask myself ''What if I'm actually being recorded now... would it really matter?'' for example. Mostly the answer is ''no''. That realization calms me down most of the time. But sometimes, I refrain from saying something out of fear of being recorded, often when it's something that actually could matter if it was recorded.

For me, whenever I do get this paranoia it's exactly like this. I calm down after I remember I don't hold any government secrets, or anything that would seriously negatively impact my life if "found out"

If I'm in public I tend to watch what I do and say more, yeah if "they" are listening in, then "they" should look at least for someone more interesting.

I don't understand why paranoid people say that they are paranoid - surely they should be too paranoid to reveal that?

@UK SPD My delusions (outside of paranoia) are passing, and after I see that what I thought isn't correct. Perhaps some have a bigger problem separating reality from mind chatter, but that's how it works for me anyway.

Some people itt might mean hypervigilance rather than true paranoia. Apart from passing delusions I am not sure the paranoid know they are paranoid....as from their pov its fact, not delusion ofc. With hypervigilance one will always be alert and assessing risk but without the belief its happening now, just aware that the possibility is there.

ZonedOut wrote:The more I get stressed, the more I get paranoid, and being videotaped or recorded is one of my main ''themes''. It kinda sucks, in a world where everyone besides me is carrying around smartphones. I never feel like I can talk freely when there is a smartphone in the room, out of fear of being recorded. I also covered the web cam and microphone of my laptop for the same reasons. I try not to care too much about it though, if only to keep sane. When I feel bothered by it, I try to ask myself ''What if I'm actually being recorded now... would it really matter?'' for example. Mostly the answer is ''no''. That realization calms me down most of the time. But sometimes, I refrain from saying something out of fear of being recorded, often when it's something that actually could matter if it was recorded.

I feel the same. I also cover my web cam. I unplug my ethernet when I'm not online. I change my passwords regularly and I keep most of my personal/private stuff on an external drive which I only access when needed. Despite this, I'm not overly paranoid about it. Anyone snooping around in my computer would get bored (or embarassed ) quickly. I'm not involved in any illegal activities.

I don't care much about security cameras. But I don't like being photographed or filmed by other private citizens. To me, it's an intrusion. I feel I should have the right to my own image. Of course, I don't. And I'm not entirely comfortable with that.

I forget the particulars, but there was a legal case involving a photographer who was taking photographs of a couple that lived in the building across from him through their windows. Apparently these people didn't pull their shades down all the time. The intent of the photographer was to create a sort of domestic tableau, but the subjects didn't see it that way, and they took him to court. Ultimately, the court sided with the photographer which I found surprising and more than a little unnerving. I myself would have been seriously pissed off. In the end, the photographer omitted the images of the couple from his installation, which I would have wanted to splatter with beet juice or something had I been the unwilling subject.

On a related note, I dislike being eavesdropped. If I'm not talking to you, then what I'm saying is none of your business. On the rare occasions in which I carried a mobile phone, I rarely had conversations in public where others could hear, even if I was talking about mundane things.

I like to consider myself nobody's business.

If you own a laptop and/or an iphone, then you are being watched and recorded.