Media Criticism - TV - Black Mirror

In a time of ever-increasing technological advancement and incorporation of such advancements into our daily lives, we've begun to wonder about the extremes of these technologies. What if our obsession with social media were multiplied, so that your online profile is more you than you? What if your online ranking affected your offline life? What if hackers What if you had the technology to block someone from your life, not just your online profile? What if the government could change what our eyes see? What if we didn't have to die, but could live in an online social hub after our bodies expire?

What if we couldn't handle it?

As its name suggests, Black Mirror changes the way we see ourselves and our technological surroundings. Our society has grown to obsess over gossip and petty "news" via social media, to hoard likes and followers, and to further and further integrate technology into our daily lives, to the point that we've developed technology to augment our perception of reality. With these norms, social expectations and the increasing potential of technology to viscerally affect our lives, Black Mirror points out the one thing that advertisers, social media, and the world at large doesn't talk about: What could go wrong? How could these things be exploited, corrupted, or used against us?

Each episode of Black Mirror is a self-contained story, though some episodes reference events from others, suggesting that the events may exist in the same fictional universe but not necessarily within the same time frame or location. Each episode also centers on one specific part of our society: social media, political scandals, normal social interaction, life with a spouse, etc. Each of these has been modified by Black Mirror's near-future dystopia. Where typical science fiction's theme of a dystopian land usually includes cities reduced to rubble and an oppressive fear of radiation, Black Mirror's destruction and fear exists only in the mind.

Black Mirror Season 1 Trailer

Ref: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/black-mirror/episode-guide/series-1
        http://www.businessinsider.com/black-mirror-predictions-reality-2016-10