This week I wanted to speak on two pieces of material. One we had to watch and the other we had to read. Of course by the title of my post it is the White Christmas episode in the British television series “Black Mirror” a show we have been watching throughout the semester and the “If It Doesn’t Spread, It’s Dead” article in the weblog of Henry Jenkins. I feel both these two materials took us away from the usual themes of social media and societal issues and focused more on technology and its impact on humanity which I enjoyed because it was something new.
First I would like to begin with the “Black Mirror” episode. This Christmas special type episode is composed of 3 different story lines and all of them leave you on your feet until the very end. All three of these stories reach a common theme in my opinion that is technology is making us change how we view the world. It is also apparent in the episode technology is the worst gift you could have during this holiday season. Technology in the episode is destroying the lives of all of its users. It is clear that morals of everyone in this show has shifted to doing whatever they need to get what they want with no concern for humanity. They allowed for technology to take over their lives. The “Z-Eye” is a device that becomes the center of this episode. It allows individuals to block someone completely from their life. The main character Matt embodies this theme the most. He has no care for anyone else and uses these technologies to justify his actions. It is made clear when he is the only character that sticks around throughout this episode because he makes sure of this. I think the title of this episode means how Christmas is supposed to be about gathering together with the people closest to you, but in this instance cutting yourself off from close ones is easier than having to live with the consequences of what you have done. Just like “Black Mirror” is known for doing this far fetched life makes us reevaluate real life. Our own habits with technology could be the same. Blocking someone is easy to do as shown in this episode, but what we can’t do is hide from what we did. We are turning the power and helpfulness technology is giving us and turning it into something destructive.
Second, the article by Henry Jenkins. This ties into the “Black Mirror” episode in my opinion because in the article he speaks about fidelity, fecundity, and longevity. Three things that are shown in the cookies Matt develops in the White Christmas episode. Although in the article Jenkins is talking about memes if we bring it on a broader scale like “Black Mirror” we can bring this upon technology itself. Just like memes people play the crucial role of how viral something gets. It is on humans to change the motives of what is worth spreading. It is easy for someone to be influenced by what is going on around them, but what we do is our own choice.
My questions for the class are: What were your takeaways from this week?
What is your thought on how COVID-19 is getting out of control as stated in my weekly news post?
SOCIAL MEDIA & SOCIETY 
Hello Ty, Your insightful interception of the Black Mirror episode was well done! The episode does take a hard perspective on technology and questions humanity’s true intentions with technology. The “Cookie” technology and ability to permanently block someone in reality is abused and misused by several characters. However, the “Cookie” device was used by law enforcement to obtain a murder confession; demonstrating its true ability with the right intentions. Lastly, Henry Jenkins points regarding longevity correlated beautifully with this weeks viewing and topics in general.
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This was a well written post and I enjoyed reading it very much! I thought you did a good job of explaining and going over everything we talked about in class this week. I would agree on your opinion of “technology is making us change how we view the world”. After seeing these technology ideas not just on this one episode of Black Mirror, but in all the episodes, it’s scary to think that someday these technological advances could exist. It makes you wonder if we will be able to adapt to new technology like this and keep a clear mind about how to use it.
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Nice post Tyrese. I really enjoyed this weeks Black Mirror episode so I think that’s what I got the most from this week. This episode was one of my favorites because it was interesting at every moment and things happened that you wouldn’t expect. I think you’re right in saying that technology can destroy lives. It’s funny how this episode shows you its uses while exposing its downfalls at the same time. It was the main characters problem and the systems solution.
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