By: Serena Edwards
A black mirror is the reflection that is looking back at us when our screens are turned off; it is also the name of a Netflix show that details humanity’s possible futures and faults with technology. I was watching a “Black Mirror” episode when I started to notice the similarities in the show with the circumstances of society today. For years, the media across all mediums have foreshadowed the society we are living in or are to fear. We are becoming the dystopian society we were warned of becoming, and doing so at the hands of greater political and technological powers.
A dystopian society is an environment that is under extreme control with issues of inequality, constant surveillance, propaganda, and loss of individuality.
The dependency on Artificial Intelligence (AI) is ultimately killing us in the end and being on the brink of authoritarianism and Martial Law, makes me think that we should be paying more attention to what we are consuming.
AI made a strong impact on society in 2024; everyone switched from Googling an answer to asking their bot “friend” ChatGPT to help them in life. Even Google replaced the original primary textbook with an AI overview of an answer.
After COVID, social interactions became less prominent, and screen time went up. Companies took that and ran with it, launching AI “companions” to “help” with people’s loneliness, disorganization, and mental health. An AI company created necklaces and advertised such things as friends that don’t do what a human would. They also found ways to be implemented into a concept society is addicted to: social media.
Facebook, Instagram, and X started subtly integrating the use of AI in the app. When looking at Black Mirror, there are many episodes where society uses AI or VR to escape from its current reality. In Season 5, during the episode “Striking Vipers”, it showed how two men used VR to live out their fantasies and alternative life experiences, becoming so addicted to this false reality that it caused them to become distant from their reality.
With the addiction to screen and the attention spans shortening from doom scrolling on Tiktok and Instagram, the lines start to blur between the truth and propaganda.
With series like “The Handmaid’s Tale,” we must start to look back at the screen and see that it is more than just a show we are watching, but a warning of what the world may soon become.
Totalitarianism is a type of government that controls all aspects of society in both private and public. There are many cult tendencies within this type of regime, with only one perspective being heard. This is very similar to the way the government is starting to function.
In 2022, the right to abortion nationwide was stripped away from millions of women in America. It was left in the hands of state legislation to decide whether they allow abortions. But it became more serious when they threatened to arrest women, healthcare workers, and accomplices. In Texas, some cities have made it illegal to perform an abortion, forcing women who are seeking to have the procedure to cross state lines to get it. With the suppression of rights and one group having more power than others, we start to lose focus on what America’s foundation is.
America’s foundation as a country is based on a broken constitution that wasn’t made for every person living within the US. A rocky foundation will always crumble.
There is so much hate that weaves throughout America that causes such a huge division. We currently have many issues, such as racism, poverty, and overall divisiveness. The president has also been fueling the division. He has stated that migrants in America have “bad genes”. Not to mention him targeting marginalized communities such as Haitians and saying they are eating domesticated animals like cats and dogs. Under Trump’s rule, there has been a higher rate of racial crimes. According to the Archive of the Department of Justice, “Anti-Black or African American hate crimes continue to be the largest bias incident victim category, with 2,871 incidents in 2020, a 49% increase since 2019.”
The world has become a real-life “Hunger Games,” living in fight or flight mode, and not having trust for the same government meant to protect us. The rate of homelessness has increased, but the US is more focused on looking great externally while losing its sanity internally.
Censorship in the media we consume is also another form of dystopian society. Earlier this year, TikTok was temporarily banned due to being owned by a Chinese company. The Supreme Court (SCOTUS) made a decision that TikTok had to be bought by an American company to function in America. Government officials were concerned about the security and safety of its users. However, the American government has been known for censoring users on American-owned social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter. NPR and PBS, which are free media publications, have been defunded by President Trump, which lowers the amount of access people have to information. Knowledge is power, but access is key to knowledge.
The government believes that “what they don’t know won’t hurt them,” but what happens when we don’t know and we are hurting? We are locked in the bondage of ignorance and dystopia because of the political officials we elected and the media’s portrayal.
As you consume different varieties of media, start to question whether it’s just a TV show or if there’s a deeper message. The media we absorb always has a serious meaning it wishes to pass onto viewers; it’s up to us, the viewers, to see that meaning, even when the media ends, and we see our reflection when the screen turns off.