The Black Mirror series represents how much society, or rather the assessment of others can influence how people behave. One of the actions for which people can get higher scores is to be friendly and polite to others. Hence, when going to a coffee shop in the morning, the main character receives a barista cookie as a gift from the institution for her coffee. She gives him a high rating of five stars, which increases his rating. People wear masks on purpose in order to maintain their high scores. Moreover, there is a feeling that the lack of one’s own opinion and the pursuit of the majority’s interests are valued among people.
I believe that with the development of social networks, society is getting closer to what is presented in the episode. For example, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook contribute to this since individuals there also contribute to people’s dependence on the evaluation of others. The aspect contributing to this society’s limitation is the acceptance and dissemination of awareness that not everything should be perfect. More movements proclaim the idea that all people are what they are and do not necessarily fit into the standards set by the environment.
References
Barner, C. (2012). Social media and communication. Sage.
Brownlie, D. (2012). Andragogy. Web.
Cummings, J. N., Butler, B., & Kraut, R. (2014). The quality of online social relationships. Communications of the ACM, 45(7), 103–108.