A very popular TV series “Black Mirror” is known to have mind-blowing content in which each episode has a different dark side of the modern life. Social Media, mechanic tools that take the control of our lives, fame and their consequences are the main topic of it. It may seem horrific to most of us and sometimes unrealistic, but it, actually, warns us against the upcoming future that will have devastating effects on humans.
What comes to your mind when I say “modern-life”? Electronic devices? Flying cars? Social Media? Or Robots? Maybe cloning people? What about their place in our lives? Do they have more advantages than disadvantages? Or the reverse? “Black Mirror” shows the ‘reverse’ aspect of modern life which we tend to ignore while keeping up with the pace of it.
DON’T TRUST YOUR ELECTRONIC DEVICES
In almost every Black Mirror episode, we encounter with the detrimental side of smart-phones, laptops or iPads, which all have face ID system that allows collecting your information into the database worldwide, and they cause somehow the death of people in each episode. The more you keep your devices, cameras and recorders, open, the more your life is put under risk.
The very first lesson is this: Modern-age-devices have reached such a great power that the ones you trust have the potential to kill you. Watch out and shut your screens!
WHAT WE SEE ON THE DIGITAL PLATFORM DOESN’T REFLECT THE REALITY
I watched the second episode of Black Mirror and understood how that lesson was reflected in it. In that episode, people were participating in a competition to be evaluated according to their voices; but, at the end, found themselves in a completely different situation. Although they were shown to be happy, inside they weren’t.
Even in our lives, we often experience that. When we feel unhappy, we rush to our smart-phones and create happy stories to show off. Or, some act as if they were millionaire although they are broke.
The second lesson: Don’t believe what is on social media!
AUTHENTICITY WILL BE REPLACED BY ROBOTS AND MECHANISATION
The use of robots and mechanic devices are the natural outcome of modernism; however, the ultimate consequence will be a completely robotic life for humans. In one of the episodes, people are working to generate electricity and living in a completely digital environment, seeing no nature, no real tools at all. They have their avatars to make relationships or attend to a competition. That episode would be the most obvious future which reflects the tremendous use of digital devices in human lives. There will be no authentic device, and everyone will be valued according to their digital price.
The third lesson from Black Mirror: Authenticity is fated to be eliminated in the near future!
PEOPLE GET STUCK TO A NEVER-ENDING DARKNESS
All developing technology and innovations lead humans into a way that will keep them in the darkness of the screens. Social Media, TV, artificial intelligence and the other things cause human relations to weaken, cutting the bonds between them. As a result, people turn to their smart-phones to refill this space caused by again their smartphones. The more you look your smartphone, the more you will get captivated by it. Isn’t it scary?
NO PRIVACY
Now that it is somewhat clear that whatever we do is being recorded somewhere in this world, that means no private life or secret is possible. Social Media, our posts, voice recordings, Skype with a friend, calls from our family or even the things we gave up writing on Social Media are stored in a very large database. What can you do about it? Sadly nothing. It is an outcome of that era, and likely to continue for a very long time. Nothing is hidden. Forever.
Aysu Begüm Karagöl
Project Management School Blogger
