Confession is Spelled P-O-W-E-R: MiniPaper

Even after many years of technological advancement, the nature of confession survives with almost perfect authenticity; technology has touched, but not transformed the polar ends of sinful openness. Like in The Scarlet Letter, there is still public scandal, and there are still secret acts. Rather, modern media has amplified that area in between, where individuals may choose either to reveal or conceal their minor flaws and transgressions. Programs like Facebook, Twitter, Pintrest, YouTube, Blogger, etc. indicate an evolving view of personal disclosure, summarized by the word “more.” Thus, the lesser errors and imperfections of human existence now claim a larger online acknowledgement than ever before.

As online openness grows, so do the indulgent confessions, (if you're wondering just what that means, check out Sixbillionsecrets or some of the public journal entries on my-diary). As those become more common, it only follows that people would adapt to the trend and use that influence for purposes other than penitence. The cyber-society created by modern media gathers a world of imperfect people and holds them just close enough that one average sin, when advertised properly, wields social influence. Essentially, confession serves as an instrument of social power; it works internal changes on the sinner, alters an individual’s social conditions and has potential to change widely held perceptions of morality and social structure.