We’re Living in a Black Mirror World
Black Mirror never fails to send a chill down my spine, especially when those episodes are based on real-life. The most recent episode I watched was “Nosedive”, directed by Joe Wright. The episode is about a world where all interactions can be rated, which later translate to the social status of the individual involved in the interaction. The main character, Lacie Pound has made all her life revolve around her status, and it becomes critical when she tries to buy a new house. As a 4.2, she was not considered qualified to buy the home in the community that she wanted, therefore she focused all her efforts on getting high 4’s to boost her rating to raise her social standing. This meant she began to avoid people below her status and disassociate herself from them, including her brother.
Thankfully, her childhood friend Naomi (a high 4), invited Lacie to her wedding as the maid of honour. Although it meant a lot to Lacie, that her popular, perfect friend would reach out and ask her, she had an end goal. That wedding would be filled with high profile, well-respected people, otherwise known as high 4’s. If she were to deliver an emotional, heart-wrenching speech, just imagine the boost her social status would get, and how beautiful her new house would be! All the pictures she could post and all the ratings she would get! Unfortunately for Lacie, incidents on her journey to the wedding led her to be downgraded to a 1.8, and who would want a 1.8 at their wedding?! Not Naomi. Lacie ended up forcing herself into the wedding to give her speech, but had a break down and was taken to jail, where she was finally free to say and do whatever she wanted.
The costumes and set design of the episode suggest it to be a dystopian reality, far into an ugly future. No matter how exaggerated this concept was for the sake of the show, the plot lines of the episode are already happening every day. First, in Lacie’s world, everyone rates each other like we do on Uber, but it’s also similar to Instagram and Facebook. Likes, follows and shares are used as an exchange currency. The more likes you get in the least time possible, somehow places you at a certain social status that everyone desires to reach. A lot of people will be embarrassed by their posting time to likes ratio and will delete the photo so no one sees that awfully low number, like Lacie avoiding Ches, a 3.1. Secondly, Lacie engages in fake conversations with others, based on what she sees on their online profile. Not only does she not know the person she’s talking to on a human level, but she pretends to be polite to certain people to receive ratings. It gets to a point where she (or anyone) knows nothing but the online world.
A terrifying concept in the episode that stuck out to me was Lacie comparing herself to other profiles online. This is a huge issue in our everyday lives because we compare our personal lives to others, of which we only see what they want us to see. We never see the ugly parts of people’s lives because who wants to post that? Would that get as many likes as a selfie with your friends holding coolers? This is where the dark side of social media comes in and can lead to mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety. Like Lacie, many of us have been told or have thought about leaving social media. But somehow, we always come back. In the episode, Lacie argues that she feels trapped in this world. How could she not care about her ratings if everyone is taking part in them? How could she escape it and leave it all behind? Who would she become? Similar uncertainties come to mind when I apply this to our lives. Would we miss out if we left our social media accounts? Can we leave that amazing (yet vain) feeling of getting 100+ likes behind?
But the positive? I don’t think we’re as bad as Lacie yet, and we still have time to change the way we interact with ourselves and others. I’ve written about it and I’ll keep writing it because I think it’s super important. We must make sure we’re taking care of ourselves and spending time without technology. This time can help us realize what is ACTUALLY important, and it will take us out of our robotic ways for a little while. Some efforts I’m currently trying to make is making my gym time, media free and putting my phone down when I’m with friends and family.
Media free gym time? Sounds like my six pack abs are coming.
