There was a time when watching ‘Black Mirror’ felt like looking through a window into a future we desperately hoped would never arrive. The series turned technology into something that was just terrifying. A rating system could rule your life, a dating app could decide your soulmate, and a digital copy of your consciousness could be locked in a computer.
What was genius about these ideas was that they felt both ridiculous and plausible. However, the real world has slowly caught up with ‘Black Mirror’.
When ‘Black Mirror’s Fiction Stopped Feeling Like Fiction
Take ‘Nosedive.’ From snapping images of coffee to meeting new people, every interaction has the potential to impact her future, and Lacie is desperately trying to get her social rating up. The episode becomes increasingly uncomfortable as she smiles through humiliation, obsessively checks her score, and eventually loses control at a wedding.
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At the time of the broadcast, the notion of a society ruled by ratings seemed extreme. However, today that behavior feels known. The likes, followers, views, and online approvals are constantly measured. Ratings are used to judge restaurants, drivers, sellers and even employers. We may not have Lacie’s glowing number hovering in front of our eyes, but the psychology behind it is already here.
The same goes for ‘Smithereens’. The episode follows a driver who kidnaps an employee of a huge social media firm, as he feels the platform played a role in destroying his life. Its criticism of addictive technology once seemed like a warning. Now, discussions about recommendation algorithms, attention economies and compulsive scrolling are everyday conversations.
The Show’s Greatest Fear Has Become Familiar
‘Fifteen Million Merits’ also showcased a strange future in which people pedaled bikes to produce energy while being showered with ads. Eventually, the protagonist rebels against the system, giving an angry speech which is then turned into another form of entertainment.
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The terror was not just that the system was cruel. It was that rebellion could be packaged and made into a product and sold back to people. That concept is still in play, but it’s not so far-fetched anymore. Outrage can be transformed into content on the internet. Clips turn into political arguments. Personal tragedies turn into viral posts.
Even criticism of social platforms can generate millions of views on those same platforms. The uncomfortable joke is almost too obvious now. There’s also ‘The Entire History of You’ in which individuals can relive their recollections through technological implants. The technology in the episode is fictional, but the emotional aspect is very real.
The characters can’t let anything go, obsessed with old conversations and small details. We already have a less frightening version of that nightmare with our smartphones and social media: screenshots, old messages, photos and posts can capture parts of our lives forever.
That doesn’t make ‘Black Mirror’ a bad show. It has a fresh set of ideas, and if it stumbles on a truly bizarre idea, the old magic can come back. However, the series had the potential to scare us with what technology can do. Now, the unsettling part is realizing how much of its technology already exists.
And honestly, that may be the biggest ‘Black Mirror’ twist of all: we stopped needing the show to imagine the dystopia.
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