Molly Scarborough
Nov 4, 20162 min
I write a lot.
Snippets of thoughts.
Ideas.
Big thoughts.
Deep thoughts.
All kinds of thoughts and responses.
It's good to play out conversations and thoughts (even just to myself) to see what I mean.
To see if I know what I mean.
A lot of them just sit in my notes.
Untouched.
Left there to fade away, never to be read or thought of again.
And I just thought.
Perhaps I'd share some of those thoughts on here instead.
I've just watched 'Nosedive' (s3e1 of Black Mirror).
And it's such a spot on representation of life.
'Nosedive' takes us on the journey of the main character's own self destruction.
Lacie lives in a world where individuals are rated on every single social interaction they have. From buying coffee in the morning to attending someones wedding...
This isn't too dissimilar from our lives - let's just think about Uber...
The episode shows Lacie's torment as she struggles with the boundaries of every day life. Obsessed with gaining a high social rating Lacie is overwhelmed with the need to impress and every social encounter becomes a troublesome puzzle she has to overcome and win. Stressed beyond belief the episode ends with Lacie imploding and destroying any good rating she ever had.
Is this episode much different from our lives now?
Social media has allowed our incessant need to be liked a literal thing. A real and physical thing. We are judged (and judge ourselves) on how many likes we have or how many follows...
We live in a world where there's this steady flow of needing to impress.
To be liked. To look good.
It dominates our lives.
I'm pretty sure it's always been like this - but I think social media has truly highlighted it and maybe even enhanced it.
We are our own worst critics - we can see ourselves and we can see what others see.
We can see all the variables - all the variations of ourselves that everyone else might possibly see. And we control it. We alter our presentation. We make sure people see what we want them to see.
We don’t want to be perceived in the wrong way.
We don’t want people to think badly of us.
We don’t want people to not like us.
And that’s what this episode of Black Mirror portrays.
Our underlying (overwhelming) need to be liked. And how we're controlled by it.
We aren’t free.
We are dominated by everyone else’s gaze and in turn, our own gaze.
What would we do if there were no eyes to judge us?
What would we do if we were truly alone?
What would we do if we couldn’t see ourselves?
Would we be free?
We see ourselves through each others eyes.
And if the people around us can’t accept us, can we accept ourselves?
Just a thought.