In ‘Black Mirror’s series three episode one ‘Nosedive,’
In ‘Black Mirror’s series three episode one ‘Nosedive,’ we are introduced to a character called Lacie Pound, who is trying to find happiness in a society that is run by social media ratings. In her world, every social encounter, whether with a friend or a stranger begets ratings. These ratings are based on a five-star scale and affect their overall score, dictating the social class one belongs to the jobs one could get, and the amenities accessible. Lacie, who begins the episode with a scale of 4.2, begins obsessing with the ratings when she finds out that she needs a medium scale of 4.5 to get access to the neighborhood she wishes to live in. She goes to extreme lengths to improve her rating, but unfortunately, the efforts prove futile. This episode is a representation of the society we live in, where what matters is your social media presence, how many followers you have, who these followers are, and how many likes you attract. It also shows us the dangers associated with too much emphasis on social media and how much other people’s opinions on social media affects our lives.
When the episode begins, Lacie jogs through what seems to be a perfect pastel neighborhood. The pastel colors are a consistent theme in the episode as there are specific characters wearing pastel while others do not. Individuals who are not wearing pastels all have one thing in common: they are as misfits due to their low ratings. Examples include Susan, the lady who gives Lacie a ride, the man operating the charging station, people in the non-priority que at the car hire, and Lacie’s brother Ryan. Just like the episode, social misfits in the world of social media exist, and they take the form of individuals who either do not feel the need to post everything they do and others with no social media accounts.
Characters in the episode are obsessed with their social media presence rather than actual human relationships. For instance, when the episode begins, and Lacie is jogging, she encounters a group of joggers and greets them briefly without a glance, more concerned with swiping her phone at a specific jogger who does the same. Lacie is also seen practicing her greetings, where she giggles and smiles in front of the mirror. She does this to make her social encounters as perky as possible to get good ratings. Whenever she has a social encounter, she always gives the five stars and always waits with anticipation for the same score, and when she does not, she becomes angry. For instance, when the man at the charging station gave her two stars, she demanded to know why, and he told her their ‘encounter was not meaningful’(Black mirror, 35:47). This obsession with people’s opinions, whether familiar people or strangers’ opinions lays the foundation for cyberbullying ‘that has escalated bullying to a new and particularly insidious level’ ( Beale and Hall, 8) She. Other characters feel the need to document everything in their lives and specifically post happy posts even though in life, one can not always be satisfied. ” no one is this happy”(black mirror, 11:21) Just like the episode people today feel the need to ” make everything they do social,” (Vedwaan,87) by taking photos of the food they are eating, people they are surrounded by, events they are attending, among others, And posting them on social media.
This episode compels us to think about how far we would go to either maintain or improve our social media image. In Lacie’s case, she orders popular coffee drink she dislikes, eats food deemed popular for the sake of ratings. The most significant action she partook in was when she accepted to be the maid of honor in Naomi’s wedding, despite their rocky past. Her flight gets canceled, and things take a turn to the worst from there. From hitchhiking to losing her title as maid of honor, showing up drunk to the wedding, getting arrested, and getting a rating of 0. Her desperation and obsession with getting better ratings to get a better life resulted in her losing everything.
Similarly, studies have shown that individuals will go to great lengths to uphold a specific image in social media. from lying about their wealth to posting nude photos, among others, all for the sake of social media attention. “Social media, at times, presents a beautified view of life, and this may add pressure for others to keep up(.miller et al. 202). This leads to a constant need to compete with others, which in turn results in stress and anxiety.
Lacie lives in a world where one’s social rating by friends, relatives, and strangers dictates their purchasing power and social class. This is not much different from the world we live in today, where one’s social media presence dictates how relevant they are. Where one is judged by the number of likes they receive from mostly strangers, Just like Lacie, some individuals will go to extreme lengths for the sake of either improving their social media presence or maintaining it. In the process, the majority become stressed and develop anxiety. People ought to be careful not to lose their freedom and sanity to social media pressures, just like Lacie did.
Work cited
Beale, Andrew V., and Kimberly R. Hall. “Cyberbullying: What School Administrators (and Parents) Can Do.” The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, vol. 81, no. 1, 2007, pp. 8–12., doi:10.3200/tchs.81.1.8-12.
“Nosedive.” Black mirror story by Charlie Brooker, directed by Joe Wright, Netflix, 2016.
Vedwan, Neeraj. “Does Facebook Make Us Happy?” Anthropology Now, vol. 5, no. 2, 2013, pp. 87–92., doi:10.1080/19492901.2013.11728405.