Will "The Circle" be unbroken?

Because I was going to see the author at an event in Fargo, I just read the 2013 novel, The Circle, by Dave Eggers, and watched the movie on Netflix (though the ending was completely changed and the movie kinda sucked, wasting a terrific cast).

It has been bouncing around in my head ever since, as the author no doubt intended.

In the novel (but not the movie), the Google/Facebook-ish tech company devises a 3 point plan of attack on human autonomy:

Sharing is Caring

Secrets are Lies 

Privacy is Theft

The first one is, of course, not especially controversial, though, in the book, this means recording your every thought and experience on social media, which is not only unhealthy but utterly pointless.

The third one is, of course, absurd, and, I think, the main point of the story is how dangerous this attitude is.

It's that middle one that I can't get past. 

In the very short time since I finished the novel, I have observed several things that reinforce this.

The first is in the book itself: Mae unknowlingly ingests a medical recording device that collects her vital signs and logs them so that her health can be constantly monitored. As a friend of mine observed,  IRL, health insurance companies would immediately use this information to deny coverage. That may be true now (though not when we finally get universal healthcare); however, it is also true what the doctor in the book asserts: that people would be healthier if their health indicators were monitored and care provided early and consistently.

Another impactful input came from, almost immediately after finishing the book, watching a 2017 mini-series about the gay rights movement called When We Rise, based on the Cleve Jones memoir by the same name, wherein one character notes to another that Harvey Milk believed everyone should come out and then life would be better for everyone. The damage of the closet is compellingly demonstrated throughout the series.

The most recent insight was listening to author Andrea Wang at the ND Library Association annual conference, speaking about the kids' book she wrote about her family, including the roadside scavaging her parents did when she was growing up. She literally cried while telling the story of the book. And, while she was terrified to be so vulnerable, she got incredible feedback on the book, won awards for it, and clearly found the whole experience therapeutic.

I repeatedly see and feel the truth of the observation that secrecy is equivilent to a lie, and frequently witness how secrecy (and lies) are hurtful, painful, and destructive. I also so often see how revealing the truth is almost inevitably cathartic and, basically, a huge relief.

However, of course, the point of the book is that sacrificing privacy leads to a dystopian nightmare. And, of course, I think privacy is valuable. And I know revealing ourselves should always be a choice, made by each individual when they are ready.

But, all that being said, I still believe that secrecy, and lies, are virtually always harmful, and that sunshine is indeed the best disinfectant.