Personal Learning Journal Story #3

Rebecca Fiske

After watching the Episode on Black Mirror called Nosedive, it put many things into perspective. The episode is set take place in a utopian society as everyone is being judged on their actions and character. Everyone uses their device that is synced into their eyes to rate one another based on how they feel their interaction went and it is based out of five stars. The more points you get the more respected and valued you are in society. Points also work based on what you post on your wall for everyone to see. Depending on what you post will result in how many likes you get which will either bring your rating up or down, in this case if it is something positive, funny, or interesting it will bring it up. Although it is set to be in a utopian society as I continued to watch I saw right through the cracks that every single person was either fake or putting on a show in order to be rated highly. People use one another to get good ratings, meaning they don’t actually care about the individual person, just on how many stars that person has. Fake relationships within the episode have led me to believe that they live in a dystopian society that is far from perfect. Every single thing an individual does is watched as well as judged which can lead to a dangerous outcome. If you are not on your best behavior or doing what makes everyone happy you will be rated very badly resulting in a miserable life. The brother in the episode was ranked so low that when his sister left the house the electricity turned off because he is so lowly rated. In a sense it even made me feel trapped just by viewing the episode because it must be hard to put on a show all day every day just in order to live a content life with something as little as electricity. Everyone is judged instantly because the minute you see someone without even approaching them you can see there rating. Social media has clearly taken over their lives in a sense that the person they are and are viewed as is based on a screen and a point system. No one is living in the moment and being nice because they want to genuinely be nice, instead everyone is being selfish in a way in order to have a good status. This reminded me of the App Uber because in an Uber based on your behavior as well as the driver’s behavior you rate one another out of five and the higher you are ranked the more respected you are when going in Ubers. I believe as social media is becoming increasingly widespread in today’s society people’s reputation through social media is going to become a big part of who we are. After watching Nosedive, I do believe this can become a reality sooner than later. It has already started with online dating apps, Instagram, Facebook, snapchat. Everyone puts out the image they want as oppose to who they really are in order to impress individuals. It is all about what content is being posted which displays what type of lifestyle you have. The “cooler” the content results in more followers and if you have a lot of followers you automatically become more respected in society. Nosedive may me bore technologically advanced but in a few years, I would not be shocked if we had a similar system.

After reading the recommended articles, “Big Data Meets Big Brother”, “Spend frivolously and be penalized under China’s new social credit system” as well as, “The complicated truth about China’s Social Credit Systems”, it sounds alarming similar to the episode Nosedive. It is said that China will use a system to rank the type of citizen you are that will be publicly ranked by the population. Every citizen in China will have a “Citizen Score” and it will determine if that individual is honorable. The fact that this is going to be put into place by 2020 and it being the year 2020 is scary to see how it turns out. They have stated a rather forceful statement disclosing that, “the behavior of every single citizen and legal person in China will be rated and ranked, whether they like it or not.” (Botsman) Another article that related back to the topic of the episode Nosedive is “Spend frivolously and be penalized under China’s new social credit system.” This falls along the lines of china’s new social system as well, but what the other article did not include was things like ““frivolous spending”” and bad behaviors like lighting up in smoke-free zones can result in stiff consequences.” (Nittle) The way citizens decide to spend their money is something that is meant to be in confidence because it is entirely up to the individual how they want to spend money that they have earned. The article says that this kind of “bad behavior” can result in unemployment. I believe this is a total invasion of privacy and it ties into the episode of nosedive in the same sense that each individual is judged based on their behavior during their daily life.

After watching the very interesting episode of Nosedive as well as reading a few articles this has turned from a nightmare into a reality. After watching Nosedive, I thought to myself this would never be possible, yet after reflecting on the episode I realize it is very realistic and possible that our society will become the way it is in Black Mirror. What supported my thoughts were the articles based on China’s social system. Although it is a scary thought, it is the reality of the world we live in with the increase of technology and social media.