Black Mirror: Nosedive

Submitted by:

dela Cruz, Catherine DP.

Submitted to:

Mr. James Euric A Lllamado, LPT

Reaction Paper: Black Mirror: Nosedive

Nosedive was released on October 21, 2016, it is the first episode of

season 3. Written by Charlie Brooker and directed by Joe Wright. Nosedive is all about a
girl named Lacie, portrayed by Bryce Dallas Howard. She is living in a time wherein
everyone shares their daily activities. They share it through eye implants and mobile
devices and rates their interactions with others on a scale of one to five stars, cumulatively
affecting everyone's socioeconomic status. Lacie seeks to make her rating higher so that
the village can grant her discount and buy the house. And she met her childhood friend,
her name is Naomi and she is invited and asked to be the maid of honor. And because of
her wants, she accepted the offer and the story goes on with the unfavourable
circumstances to her that resulted in her rating to get low and get detained. While
watching it, I realized that the director and the writer of the story are good at executing
the message that they want to convey to us. I, someone who watched the episode
believed that what the episode show can happen to us in the future and also the
danger it will cause.

What happened to nosedive can happen to us in the future if we will

continue to be too dependent. As of now we are continuing being too dependent on social
media or technology. According to Statista, 59% of the global population are active on
social media, and an average 14-24 years old people consumed 3 hours a day on social
media and just like in Nosedive people nowadays want to rate everything from car,
restaurant, foods, resorts, and also people. We may not aware that we are rating anyone
but we do, liking the photo or the meme that our friends post on Facebook, Instagram, or
other social media is a form of rating. We rate them based on how funny they are, how
good they looks are and many more. And also there are already apps that can rate people
now there is an app called Rate me. If you upload a photo, whether it's your outfit or just
a picture of yours, they will rate you and can give you advice on what can you do to
enhance your physical appearance. And in 2015, the app called “Peeple” was released.
They described the app as "yelp for humans." this app has no limits you can rate everyone
even your boss, ex, or even neighbours, and if your name is in their system, you cannot
remove it and everyone can see your ratings. And in 2010, Unvarnished was released it
Is also described, "a public bathroom wall for everyone on the planet." it is an app for your
colleague, you can rate them for personality and professionalism.

We as a people, we will do anything to feel included. Nowadays, technology

makes it harder for us to do that. For example, many people do pranks that can harm
anyone around him\her to gain likes, comments from everyone, and to be the discussion
on social media. In 2014 on Halloween, a 15-year-old girl died because of the prank that
she pulled off to her family. Because of social media, our psychological health can also
suffer. Just in the U.S., 13% of suicide. The cause of it is social media, aside from
widening cases of cyberbullying in the country. The other reason is, teens, don't feel
validated or they feel they are not enough, the reason is that they always see the lavish
life of people on social media. According to a psychologist, signs of depression can also
occur if the user didn't receive digital contact such as like, react, or comment from her
friend on social media. They will also feel like they have no genuine friends because no
one is engaging with their posts, they will feel isolated or alone that can cause many
negative thoughts and psychological effects.

In conclusion, the Nosedive shows us what will happen if we depend too

much on technology and social media, and if we care too much about what other people
rate or think of us. It shows us that we should be real to ourselves and don't think what
the other people said. Having technology and social media will make our lives easier and
more accessible. If we depend too much on it, our psychological health will suffer. The
show tells us that being 4.5 and above is not lavish or is festive. Being 4.5 means hiding
your true identity and your background just to be accepted by everyone. And I think the
purpose of the show is to tell us that what we see on social media is not always real, and
the life people in social media do not always surround by butterflies. And lastly, it shows
us that not all people can have a genuine intention to us.
Reference

Clement J. (2020, July). Global Digital Population Worldwide. Retrieved from

https://www.statista.com/statistics/617136/digital-population-worldwide

Emerging trend in Psychology: Tech Dependency (2015, October). Retrieved from

https://online.csp.edu/blog/psychology/technology-dependency

King S. (2015, October). Peeple an app for rating people. Retrieved from.
https://www.naturalinsight.com/blog/peeple-the-knew-app-thats-yelp-for-
people#:~:text=Natural%20Insight%20News,Peeple%2C%20the%20new%20terrifying
%20app%20that%20allows%20people%20to%20rate,...as%20a%20person.&text=This
%20morning%20the%20internet%20is,off%20limits%20with%20this%20app.

Metev D. (2020, July). How Much Time Do People Spend on Social Media?. Retrieved
from https://review42.com/how-much-time-do-people-spend-on-social-
media/#:~:text=The%20average%20US%20adult%20spends,was%20142%20minutes
%20a%20day.

Social Media, Self-esteem, and Teen suicide. (2018). Retrieved from

https://blog.pcc.com/social-media-self-esteem-and-teen-suicide

The Psychological effects of Social media on Teens. (2019, October). Retrieved from.
https://www.newportacademy.com/resources/mental-health/psychological-effects-of-
socialmedia/#:~:text=However%2C%20a%20growing%20body%20of,%2Desteem%2C
%20and%20mental%20health.