15 Million Merits, what an episode of Black Mirror. I have actually seen this one before unlike last week, and it was just as shocking as before. I just couldn’t imagine living in a world where all there is are stationary bikes and porn. And I really wanna know if the women are bombarded with porn too, because if not, then what are all their ads about, shampoo? In addition, the little carton they gave Abi, ‘cuppliance,’ I wonder if they kept her drinking it during her porn shoots and life to keep her from regretting or wanting to go back on her decision. The whole show appropriates ‘fat shaming’ and being a bigger girl myself, it’s absolutley crazy to me. Honestly I think I’d rather be a janitor than sit on a bike day in and day out, I think I’d rather deal with the bullying than be so goddamn bored not moving or going anywhere on a bike. Maybe I’m crazy for that, who knows.
Social media has always been with us. Now this is something I’ve definitely never thought about. Standage mentions papyrus rolls the romans used, and radio transmitters, and all of these pre-internet ways people still communicated to gossip, which shows it really is in human nature. Which is scary, we have this innate way about us that we want to talk about other people, and overshare. We’re social creatures, maybe this is why people are really addicted to their phones and social media, it’s in our DNA, it just changes how it presents itself through time. We went from drawing pictures on walls to tell a story to posting pictures on our social media ‘walls’ now. We need human connection, especially now with Corona, could you imagine just going months without seeing or even talking to the people in your life? Social media is a beautiful thing, in the grand scheme of things. This quote, “modern social media is so compelling because it’s the most convenient and efficient means we have invented so far to scratch a prehistoric itch: the desire to share and network with other people.”(Standage) This is it, this is what it boils down to, networking and connections. I feel like, not to get super existential, but I think the connections we make with people is the meaning of life. We rely on eachother, we love, we hurt, we share.
‘“Know yourself” has obscured “Take care of yourself.”‘(Foucault) How true is this. Wow. Our morality definitely has changed over the years, 100 percent. I think we as humans have forgotten to figure our own selves out because other people basically tell us how we should be, especially on social media. We create a different version of ourselves and we really get lost in the noise. Everything has evolved into ‘self care’ routines that we watch on Youtube or figure out through watching others, and honestly I think we kid ourselves into thinking it actually works when truly it’s just masking whatever issues you have for a night or two. I guess I should apologize to everyone, surprise, this might be an eye opener.
Weekly news: I actually just heard about this on Facebook and have’t really seen it in the daily news. This should definitely be a bigger issue.
SOCIAL MEDIA & SOCIETY 
I really liked your Karl Popper quote that ‘we are ultimately and forever will be social creatures.’ To think that we could do anything and and be anything separate from the rest of humanity; unconnected to our past or present is wrong. This is truly the core of humanity, in my opinion. The sooner we start realizing and practicing life this way, the better off I think we will be. I agree that it may be in our DNA to share details of our life and to network and make connections with others.
You bring up a very great observation about the Black Mirror episode, 15 Million Merits: Why is it all about women being viewed as porn stars? I didn’t see any women watching men. Constantly having to ride that bike looked like a version of hell; like you could never escape, unless you “sold out.” It would be like trading one personal hell for another version, but at least you wouldn’t have to ride that bike everyday in order to obtain merits. What you said, “I think we as humans have forgotten to figure our own selves out because other people basically tell us how we should be, especially on social media” is spot on! This both saddens me AND scares me. We need to be able to cultivate our own thoughts and opinions without technology telling us what to do. Otherwise, we are giving up control and losing some very basic skills that are crucial to our development and mental well-being.
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I liked your article and there is a lot of wisdom in it, whether about Black Mirror or about talking about social media. I agree with you that social media has changed our lives and we have become addicted to personal phones or other devices. Combined with advanced technology, it helped us invent social media services.
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Hey Emily! I found your blog to be both persuasive and accurate. Your interpretation of the Black Mirror episode was right on! Porn, riding bikes for merits and fat shaming? They are all debatable concepts for sure, and to include all of those topics in one episode is most defiantly controversial. However, they do raise several good points about our society as a whole. In my opinion, media today picks and chooses certain content to share with its viewers and subscribers. I believe this content contains attractive, sexual, mainstream or potential creditability content to its users for that certain m.
Your quote stating, “…not to get super existential, but I think the connections we make with people is the meaning of life. We rely on eachother, we love, we hurt, we share”, is spot on. With social media today we contribute our whole lives onto some platform. Like you said, we rely on each other for media to thrive and succeed. In a sense without us, media is empty and silent. We should continue to evolve with the changing times and find our own place in history.
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