Do You Use Technology or The Technology Uses You? (Black Mirror Episode Analysis)

Do you use technology or the technology uses you? The specific episode from season 3 of  Black Mirror titled Nosedive gained attention and gathered many opinions and analysis on how social media affects the social and psychological aspects of people.The technology is the greatest invention yet reflects the darkest elements of humanity right back at us ( Gilbert 2019) states that this world revolves around fake smiles, pseudo interactions and unachievable lifestyle. These events depict the effect of social media and what can happen for the next few years or undeniably even today. In that world having a score of 4.0 or above makes you the apple of the eye and gives you advantages. We follow the story of the protagonist Lacie Pound working hard to raise her numbers to finally be among those with high 4 rankings. She doesn’t speak her mind and just follows what everyone else says and acts. Even with all her efforts in the end she breaks down and breaks away from the chains society kept her in according to (Kim 2020). In a community controlled by shiny screens of devices and colored by unrealistic standards, how long will you try to get those stars? A place where your status is identified by numbers that are affected by everything and the majority of persons wear a mask to maintain their reputation. How long can you fake your smile?

The first few minutes of the episodes show a futuristic setting where everyone has their own devices and they rate everyone around them out of five, they also have their  eyes that are encrypted with technology in order to check the rating of the others. The world dresses in a certain way that almost all people follow a specific style to dress with no uniqueness at all and is assigned by specific colors; blue for the boys and pink for the girls. The surrounding is viewed with touches of pastels and pinks to show that everyone is the same and no one is unique. The problem with these ratings is that they are mostly fake. People in the episode try overly hard to be nice to everyone and do what they think will get them the most ratings, such as posting pictures of certain things they think people will like or doing favors for people, or telling people things they think they want to hear. In this sense it completely limits freedom of speech and our ability to say what is on our minds and not be constantly held to an impossible standard of perfection in the eyes of society as stated by  (“Social & Psychological Effects of Communication Technology”, 2019)

Lacie undoubtedly already has a high rating of 4.2 and perfected the craft of being fake. But she  wants a place of her own that offers discounts to buyers with a rating of 4.5 or higher. She concludes that this apartment will give her a higher chance to finally get a lover and achieve her wanted lifestyle. She decided to consult an expert that told her it's possible to raise her rank but will take months to achieve. (Brodwin 2016) said in his work that a psychological principle called the "hedonic treadmill" is the real fuel that would, in theory, drive us toward this pathetic and debilitating future. In essence, because we're always on the hunt for that next thing that'll make us feel good, it's almost impossible for us to just be — and just being, research suggests, is one of the key ways to feel truly happy . And that exactly describes Lacie, everytime she gets a 4 or 5 stars she feels accomplished and happy but at the end of the day she still feels empty and unsatisfied. The story doesn't introduce friends or even colleagues in her workplace and she lives with her brother and doesn’t have a significant other.Everyday she makes an effort to strive more in order to feel good about herself and get that boost of serotonin. Out of the blue, Lacie saw her childhood friend Naomi with a rating of 4.8 and thought that this is her key for her plans to succeed. Even with her bad history with her friend she still thinks that this will help her achieve her ideals, her brother even told her that this is pathetic and he missed the old sister that he had.

Unfortunately along with her journey she faces many situations that make her lose her stars and decrease her opportunities for things due to her low rank. She met an old lady with a ranking of 1.4 offering her a ride and told her own story. She is also controlled by the rankings as she herself has a former rating of 4.6 but everything changed due to her husband’s death. His cancer has a low probability of being treated but loses that chance as his bed was given to another person with a slightly higher ranking than him. She then decided to do her will and ignore the society’s suffocating standard. After parting ways with the old lady Lacie tried her best to be on time to the wedding but was told to don’t come by Naomi herself because of her current rating. She still goes even covered in dirt while trying to say her speech and finally has a breakdown and starts initiating physical threats by waving a knife. She was jailed for her actions and the last minutes shows her and a guy arguing with freedom as they are no longer leashed by their ratings. 

The hierarchy in societal status is undeniably true, we consider likes and followers as currency. The more you have, the better life you live. We wanted to be followed rather than being a follower and this happens to everyone. Instagram, facebook, youtube, pinterests and other social media platforms portray an ideal unrealistic lifestyle, body and beauty. But having more eyes on you means you need to be ideal and perfect, a negative action or opinion will make you an eyesore to the media. Technology is the greatest invention humanity has ever created, but nowadays technology manipulates us to create a standard that controls us. The mask we wear to be more desirable might shatter and show our true colors. We may end up like Lacie, finally loses her sane ability to create our own image of perfection.