Black Mirrors 2

The Netflix series Black Mirrors has a different story line, characters for each episode, making them all different, however, it does seem to be that in each episode there is a problem or issue and those problems seem to come from an issue around technology. In this specific episode people have a something in their head that allows them to record everything they see and hear, so the human brain doesn’t have to remember it themselves. The characters are able to replay any memory from any point of their life with a click of button, they can also project it on a screen for others to experience. The “grain” is a part of their everyday life it is even used for airport security, and those who do not have one are considered outsiders, and are often questioned why they wouldn’t have it.

            Having this grain inside of you is very frightening to me because it records every little detail of your life. Snapchat is one form of social media that seems similar to the grain because we are able to record and take photos of exactly what we’re doing in a specific moment, and replay it until it eventually disappears. Because with Snapchat we are able to record and talk to others, it causes many issues with relationships, and many might blame social media for destroying relationships. The episode involves, Liam the main character who suspects his wife might be cheating on him, after the two attend a dinner party. Liam is able to go back time and time again to re watch everything that happened and hear the conversations his wife had with other men. Because of the grain and the “redo” Liam is able to discover that his wife in fact had been lying and was still interested in her ex boyfriend. There was also a situation where the ex boyfriend had played previous memories for the people at the dinner party to watch while eating their meal. Because Liam was watching his memories he was able to go back into his own memories and re watch the videos, which is where he saw his wife cheating. Throughout the entire episode it is clear that his marriage is falling apart and he gets so obsessed with watching his memories and finding out every detail. In the end Liam is left alone and upset which resulted in him removing the grain himself from his head.

            This concept of the grain is so interesting to me because I was thinking about the society we live in today and what the world would look like if everyone had one. The only positive I can see with this technology would be situations like airport security or trying to track down a criminal, being able to watch their memories and see what they have been up to lately. However, I was thinking how different the world would be, and the things we would be able to see. People would have movies stored, tv shows, etc. I was also thinking how this would work with kids/young adults who are in school. For example taking a test, we would have the ability to back to our memories and re read something, it almost seems like education would not be viewed the way it is viewed today because people can just store all their memories and information in the grain.

The Victorian Internet

I found this reading particularly interesting because prior to this, I didn’t have much knowledge of telegraph. I thought it was fascinating how the author began the chapter by explaining the story of a couple who was able to get married through the telegraph. Once reading about the marriage and how the husband was sent away, I thought about something like that happening in our time today. For example, a couple getting married through FaceTime would be equivalent to that day in the age, the telegraph. I’m not sure if a couple has ever gotten married through FaceTime, but I believe if a story liked this surfaced around social media, it would be very frowned upon, and people may often make the assumption that technology is ruining our lives, or taking over our lives. However, this couple getting married through a telegraph really showed people how amazing this piece of technology truly is, and what it can do for us.

            It is surprising to me that when this was created it changed the way people communicated and accessed the news. However, if something like this was created in our day in age it would be extremely different response. Although the telegraph was designed to make communicating easier, it still took some time to send and receive messages. I was also surprised to read about the people who use the telegraph. The author mentions that users of the telegraph were part of a closed exclusive community, today it seems everyone has a smart phone or another form of technology that makes communicating that much easier.

Personal Connections in the Digital Age

Nancy Baym discusses and compares our world today to the old world in Personal Connections in the Digital Age. She addresses the issue that many people are aware of, technology is taking us away from real life interactions.  However, she raises important points and questions that I have never once thought about. Baym talks about our relationships with others and how technology and media affect our relations, she brings up this idea of “familiar becomes the unfamiliar”. When new technology rises or new form of social media become more popular we become unfamiliar with the new forms, which can often times lead to anxiety. This point caught my attention because I never thought about anxiety being related to technology, however, now I can. Feeling a sense of anxiousness because of technology makes total sense, due to the high demands and obsession with it.

            Baym brings up this notion of being present yet also absent. Physically you can be somewhere but your mind can be absent because we are so infatuated with other things rather than what is going on now. This point is something I believe everyone is aware of, yet they don’t seem to stop.  Over the summer while waitressing I had a table full of young kids who I assumed to be in high school. While serving the group of people every one of them had their cell phone in hand, it made it difficult to do my job because while they were physically there, their minds were absent.

            Baym raises many questions throughout her book that made me think. One of them being, “how can we have so much control yet lose so much freedom?” This was something I had never thought about, but I thought deeper into this. All the different technologies and social media provide us with so many opportunities to access information, provide information, and communicate with people all over the world. However, we lose freedom because being so obsessed with technology and media we allow ourselves to miss certain things and we become more vulnerable. While social media is a great way to communicate with others it also causes issues and often times lead people into trouble, thus taking away our freedom. Something I think people often times forget is once something is posted online it can never go away, even if it is deleted. As I grow older and become involved more social media is something I have to take into consideration. Time and time again I have been told to watch what I post because future employers can look me up, being on a collegiate sports team is also something I have to be careful of. Nancy Baym raises important issues that I believe everyone should look into, to have a better sense of technology and social media.