I recently watched an episode of Black Mirror on Netflix. This one was set in the "future" where what we do or property we can own or special treatments are all based on your rating. There are inserts in your eyes that allow you to see one's rating, and you can rate anyone you see. If you look nice, act nice, and be nice, people will rate you higher. It seems sweet, like this is the key to a kind and safe society. However, it's not real. People don't say what they want to say, and people only care about this number that people will judge you by. You don't have real friends, real encounters, real feelings. And if you do have real feelings, people will lower your rating. When your rating is low you can't do things or go to certain places.
The whole time I was watching this I was shaking my head and cringing at how obsessed people were with this number and their device. However, we aren't that far from this at all. When I post a picture in Instagram, all I can think about is how many likes I will get. I think about the impression this will give people about me. I don't want to, but it's an addiction. Why do you even have an Instagram or a snapchat? It's not for some productive reason like selling something or running a business. It's because you want to see what other people are doing and wish you were them, and you want other people to see what you're doing and make them wish they were you. It's who can market themselves the best. We look like we are having so much fun, when it's actually just staring at a screen with the occasional selfie. This is so scary to me.
Perhaps people are only nice to improve this rating that people have in their heads of everyone. Impressions and opinions are seemingly so important and makes me wonder if that's all that life is about. Pleasing people and improving your rating? And isn't it true that if you're nice you get better treatment in general? I have noticed this after watching this episode, and really want to just stop trying to sell myself online. I just want to look up.
That episode of Black Mirror showcased the consequences of maintaining a single score upon your life. A character’s deviated with each rating obtained; whether it was from a truck driver with whom she spent a few hours or a barista serving her a coffee. While this might work for something like the common credit score used in present day to evaluate whether someone is a worthy risk when extending credit, it doesn’t necessarily work when evaluating a complex individual for “niceness” or country-club-wedding status.
ReplyDeleteHuman beings are very complex and do not fit into a single mold of description. Also, just because someone may appeal to another in, say, intellect, it doesn’t mean they will appeal in other facets; e.g. emotions, risk tolerance, cleanliness, etc. Think about finding a roommate: for some, there are many qualities which must be evaluated before deciding to live with that applicant while, for others, simply the ability to pay the rent bill promptly, is all that matters.
Keep pondering. And, keep writing!