Nosedive: Social Media's Dystopian Future

Social media was originally a form of communication which presented your life to friends and family. However, people soon started to show their life publicly to strangers. People were being judged by others through a rating system – a system where viewers judge content based on likeability and interests. Science fiction is a genre that displays the use of innovations in a good or bad manner by showing possible futures with certain technological advancements. “Nosedive,” an episode from the Netflix TV series Black Mirror, depicts a possible dark future where society’s lifestyle revolves around social media. In this alternate world, social media integrates a rating system which assigns a person’s worth. In “Nosedive”, social media’s placement
in society and the rating system, a 1-5 star system, is a novum, a key difference between the real world and the fictional world. Novum illustrates the potential risks of the assimilation of the fictional world’s technology into reality.. The novum in “Nosedive” advises caution by showing the misuse of technological innovations. Through the exercise of caution will help prevent society heading towards a dystopian future.
Science fiction helps society be aware of what we are creating so that we can consider the risks to our way of life. Our current society might not integrate social media as the core of our societal functions as seen in “Nosedive”, but possibilities of a similar future could still occur . In Jon Turney’s article, “Imagining Technology”, he describes science fiction as “life is enabled or constrained by technology in ways we have not seen in our world” (Turney). He explains science fiction provides a possible glimpse of the future where various forms of technological advancement exist. Social media could expand their influences on society’s lifestyle altering the structure of society. Thus, the audience needs to gain an understanding of consequences for how the technology could impact society. For this reason, Robert Sawyer, a science fiction writer, in his essay, “The Purpose of Science Fiction”, states science fiction suggests all possible futures, but with the intention “that society can make informed decisions about where we want to go” (Sawyer). Sawyer expresses that science fiction creates the understanding for people of what future could occur from our use of
technology. A lack of understanding can lead to misuse of technology, which could result in a potential dystopian future. Society needs to be aware of their action in the handling of technology. An educated, cautious group decision with the awareness of potential danger can help society to prevent a dystopia.
In recent times, science fiction writers have taken a darker stance on new technology due to the fear of destruction from our innovation being mishandled. This could potentially lead to a dystopian reality. Neal Stephenson, an author, in his essay, “Innovation Starvation”, expresses the idea that the decline of techno-optimism in society was seen from the innovative 1950s to modern science fiction (Stephenson). From the abuse of technology, dark science fiction stories warn the audience of horrible plausible realities. For instance, in “Nosedive”, social media’s rating system (a 1-5 star system) displays how ratings dominate citizens’ lifestyle. High ratings for a person meant living in comfort, but low ratings meant a person is unable to work and turns them into an outcast. “Nosedive” shows an example of society’s misuse of technology like social media’s rating system in an alternate reality. Likewise, the misuse of technology can lead society to an oppressive societal control that could enforce conformity. Our society will travel towards such terrifying dystopia if we. are not aware of the dangers of what we are creating.
Caution is what society needs. Current society lives carefree and content with contemporary life as technological advancements continue to improve over time. We have become accustomed to benefiting from from technology, we have started to neglect it’s possible negative effects. Even with the benefits we gained, society has not thought: how will this technology influence society? Neil Postman in his article, “Five Things We Need to Know About Technological Change”, speculates that consequences of technological change are vast, often unpredictable, and irreversible (Postman). We don’t know what negative consequences that innovations will bring. However, society must be cautious of the technology’s potential impact. It’s good to innovate to improve
Not only the lack of caution is seen through the technological advancements, but also in the misuse of the technology beyond the technology’s limits is a foolish action.
For example in the myth of Icarus, Icarus was given wax wings by his father, Daedalus, who warned him of neither to fly too high or low to prevent the wings from breaking during their escape. In spite of the warning, Icarus flew too high beyond the wings’ limit which led to his demise. The myth sends caution to not push past the technology’s limit or consequences will befall the user. Likewise, modern society has made progress in innovations such as social media on computers from 1990’s to mobile phones today, which provides a more open access Even so, social media can only take us so far with its abilities; however, going beyond the scope of its abilities such as the assimilation of social media’s rating system as central structure that force people to restrain their own emotions in exchange better ratings is a possible future. “Nosedive” illustrates how technology like social media could have such powerful impact on the society’s way of life which differs from our reality. Caution is a necessity for avoidance of a dystopian society as our current society must tread carefully in the future use with technology to prevent our
downfall.
Social media is not a technology to lead us to dystopian demise; even so, it has the potential to do so. A dystopia is a reality that people must avoid. People need to be aware of the risks we take with caution in the use of innovations in society. A life full of misery and lack of emotions is not desired by our society. The implementation of certain technology can become a negative influence if the particular technology restrict society. There is no point in technological advancement if the intention wasn’t for the greater good of society. So, it up to people to realize the limits of technology along with our understanding of the technology to maintain the stability between life and technological influence in society. Modern society can avert the destructive societal future called dystopia, if our society become aware of their action in the use of technology.