Black Mirror Analysis

Black Mirror, a popular television series, is known for making its viewers uncomfortable. With plots ranging from a terrorist scheme to force the British prime minister to sodomize a pig to a woman's lifelong struggle to escape a labor camp, only to discover that the alternative is prostitution, it disconcerts even the most jaded fan. One of its most striking episodes, characteristically, opens with a passionate love scene that, after a minute or two, cuts to reality-- the couple lying in bed, their eyes grayed out as they each replay better times in their relationship through their ocular implants. The episode follows their struggles with this incredibly personally invasive and socially pervasive technology. While science fiction (for

Spending most of his time sequestered in his room, he is not forced to confront differences or real-life consequences and, therefore, often develops a fundamental disconnect with reality. Compounded with the xenophobic, misogynistic,

Not only does gaming, in the malleability of adolescence, produce neural pathways identical to those formed from a physical dependence, but it also results in decreased functioning and development in the regions associated with social interaction and even verbal skills in some cases (among others). This ill effect is only exacerbated by the gamers' denial. However, one must not deny the positive effects of our increased impersonality-- and its paradoxical nature. Any teenager knows the ease with which she shares her feelings via text, in comparison to the awkwardness of doing so in person. Sometimes, this ease can save lives. I first learned of a close friend's depression and suicidal urges over Messenger late one night when he begged me not to leave him alone. Months later, he confided that that night would have been, had I not talked him through it, his second attempt at suicide. Professionals are beginning to take note of this pattern, too, establishing text-in suicide hotlines that have saved thousands of lives. The unquestionable reduction in social interaction as a result of the rise of technology engenders far more ill effects than positive. But, it is worth remem-bering that technology in lieu of human interaction is nothing new; the War of 1812 resulted from too slow communication by what is,