The Black Mirror episode, Nosedive, takes place in a dystopian society where likes and social media act as a form of currency both socially and economically. People try to create the perfect image of themselves in order to obtain a higher quality of life. The lead character, Lacie Pound, desperately does anything she can in order to achieve the lavish and envious lifestyle in which she so desires. In the end, Lacie ends up in prison for going insane and holding a knife up at her friends wedding. In reality, a system to this extreme would never work. People are naturally imperfect, and trying to obtain this socially created idea of “perfection” can drive people to insanity, just as it did to Lacie.
An aspect that this system also affects that is not often spoken about is mentally. Creating this perfect and fake persona can become mentally exhausting, and drive people mentally insane for not being able to express their true selves.
According to the article by John Patrick Hatcher on source Success.com, social media has both positive and negative aspects to it. Social media opens up access to new information, allows people to connect with each other faster and easier, and allow for influence over a widespread audience. The possibilities for how these platforms can be used are endless.
A negative aspect is that social media and advertising companies take advantage of privacy rights. In the microscopic print that no one bothers to read in the place that no one bothers to look, states many social media platforms rights to collect data and own the rights to everything you share on that platform. Even if you delete a post or take down information on media, platforms will still be able to have access to it at any moment and can ultimately use it against you or acquire the rights from it at any time.
Scarily enough, China is adapting a social credit system that resembles the society of a Netflix episode. With social credit systems becoming a reality in our world, social media will also play a part . Through this social credit system, China will be able to have complete control on all aspects of their citizens’ lives.
Evidence shows that China has plans to gather information from for than just their citizens. The app “Tik Tok” is a social media platform where people can take videos of them dancing, doing comedy or virtually anything they want. This app is especially popular with children and teens. Recent reports have been released that China is using this app to gather information about its users. They are collecting information such as phone numbers and contacts, email addresses, IP addresses and location.
China has developed a facial recognition system that can identify where and what a person is doing at all times. Whether a person is on their way to work, to ride the subway, or any day to day activity, they can be tracked down and recorded.The more information China can gain about people, the more total control they will be able to have. This is digital authoritarianism, and in an age where media encompasses majority of life, it can be considered total authoritarianism.
In America, a system like this would completely violate our constitutional rights to privacy. American citizens having a poor credit score are turned away from housing and are forced to pay more insurance due to a situation out of their control, such as job loss or medical debt.
As Social Credit Systems become a reality in our world, social media will also play a part in these systems. In a strict social credit system, anything posted on social media will be monitored by the government and could ultimately have an effect on your credit score, depending on whether your content is acceptable or not by the government. This limits people’s individuality and their voices. Social Credit Systems are not the ideal system of governance in terms of freedom, and should be avoided at all costs.
Works Cited
Wong, Queenie. “TikTok Accused of Secretly Gathering User Data and Sending It to China.” CNET, CNET, 3 Dec. 2019, http://www.cnet.com/news/tiktok-accused-of-secretly-gathering-user-data-and-sending-it-to-china/.
Hatcher, Jon Patrick. “20 Pros and Cons of Social Media Use.” SUCCESS, 17 Dec. 2019, http://www.success.com/20-pros-and-cons-of-social-media-use/.
Lindsay Feller 