Free and under control?

There was a moment while I was reading Galloway when I thought to myself- just how much control do we have over technology? I'm not talking about the kind of doomsday out of control scenario that happens in the movies; a computer that takes over the world and becomes more powerful than the average human. I'm thinking more along the lines of the amount of agency that we are able to exhibit when playing a video game ore simply surfing the web. Galloway discusses the notion of control and by making reference to Deleuse who defines control not in terms of being restricted or necessarily bound by something, but having the ability to act freely in an inherently constrained environment. The freeway for example, gives drivers the freedom to go wherever they want under the framework provided by the freeway. In other words, they are bound by the roads of the freeway itself. Moreover, while they are free to drive to a myriad of places, they must follow the roads that have been predetermined by civil engineers. Galloway suggests that this particular understanding of control is "key to understanding how computerized information societies function. It is part of a larger shift in social life, characterized by a movement away from central bureaucracies..toward a broad network of autonomous social actors." This shift, put forward to Galloway, characterizes much of what we take for granted when operating a computer. Take Facebook, for instance. When wasting time on Facebook, I have always felt as if I were in full control of what I was doing- I can post pictures when I see fit, comment on other people's post when I feel like I have something to say, or just idly scrolling down my newsfeed. Like the realm of video games, Facebook is constructed in a way that gives the user freedom but also constrains users to only being able to act in a certain way. The obvious example would be posting inappropriate messages or pictures. Inappropriate posts will be reported and deleted by the system; reminding you that you aren't in full control of your profile. Further, Facebook is set up in a certain way to make us feel that we have all the agency in the world, while restricting our freedom when it sees fit. 

What does Galloway and Deluse's definition of control mean for the relationship between computers and users at large? I find the whole notion of being "free" but in a controlled environment a little problematic. It undermines the freedom we want to believe in and hold so dear to our uniqueness as a society. On the flip side however, I think Deluse's interpretation of control and freedom is much more nuanced than a blind understanding of freedom as being limitless. Computers have their limits. They are not omnipotent machines and they really never will be because they are a product of human intelligence and creativity. The "computers taking over the world scenario" seems unlikely to me in a world where Deluse and Galloway are right because computers will always have a limit and we as individuals will always be bound by our own conventions and conformities.