absence is the ultimate terror

So when the age of Peep demands more and more caught-on-tape sensational moments, it's not because we really believe we'll be safer if the camera is on. What we believe is that if we're on camera, we'll be less alone. Under the impartial "regime" of the camera's eye, we'll continue to exist even after we're grabbed by the arms and hustled out of the mall. We'll die, perhaps, but we won't disappear.
...
In a postmodern society that turns everything into an endless recording, absence is the ultimate terror. We embrace surveillance because we're terrified of disappearing "without a trace."

-- The Peep Diaries by Hal Niedzviecki