We’re being watched. We know we’re being watched, and we don’t think the watchers have our best interests at heart. They try to mollify us, arguing that we’re being watched for our own good and that in fact we’re the ones in charge of the scale and scope of all the watching, but deep down most of us are confused and suspicious about this sudden state of affairs. Why are they watching us so closely? What will they do with all they learn about us? Is there any hope of stopping them? And does it even matter that we do not want to be watched — or is it of no consequence, because they know we’re trapped, and so do we?

The above may sound like the ravings of a wretch imprisoned in the Panopticon, but according to a survey of more than 4,000 people conducted this summer by the Pew Research Center, it is the widespread sensibility of the day.

According to the survey, Americans in 2019 feel adrift and powerless about living under the glare of digital surveillance. Two-thirds of Americans believe that surveillance is an inevitable consequence of modern existence — it is not possible to go through daily life, they say, without companies and the government collecting data about them. More than 70 percent believe that most or all of what they do online is being tracked, and nearly that many believe the same is true of what they do offline. And more than 80 percent feel like they have very little or no control over the data being collected about them.