Show and Tell- Black Mirror's "Nosedive"

When I first started reading The Circle, I immediately thought of the episode titled "Nosedive" from Black Mirror. The book reminded me of this because the whole episode is centered around a powerful social media company that has taken over everyone's lives. It hasn't just taken over everyone's free time; the social media has been applied to real life which may determine if you can use an express lane at a grocery store or buy a car at a discount.
Essentially, everyone has a rating 0-5. Anyone can rate whoever they want based on social interactions or simply nothing. The technology consists of permanent contact lenses (or something kind of like contact lenses) that allow one to see the ratings of whoever is around by just looking in their direction. Additionally, the contact lenses allow one to look at their social media feed whenever they want and wherever they want. Smartphones are connected to the contact lenses and the social media, so one can scroll through their feed and rate people simply by moving their finger on their smartphone.
This episode really made me think when it comes to the material we have talked about in class. First, I thought of social media as a determinant of social status and self-esteem in today's society. A lot of times, people post pictures just for a means of obtaining as many likes as possible. These pictures are always of the best parts of their days. Then, when they receive many likes, they feel better about themselves. It's almost as if likes have determined self-worth. Additionally, people may feel like they are "above" people who are "below" them when it comes to the number of likes one receives on their picture or video.
Additionally, this episode made me critically think about privacy. If someone is constantly posting pictures on social media, in a way they do not have privacy. This is because people are constantly seeing what is going on in their life. However, in another sense, this person does have privacy because a lot of times these pictures are faked/twisted/photoshopped. Basically, a lot of these pictures do not give the viewer a true sense of this person's live. Since a viewer may be deceived by a picture, the poster does have privacy because the viewer does not know who they truly are.
Lastly, this episode ties into panopticism. The main goal of the Panopticon, literally and figuratively, was to make the prisoners inside feel like they were being watched at all times. This is a form of control because the prisoners will feel pressured to behave well all the time because there may be eyes on them. In the episode, this idea of panopticism is reflected in that all ratings are displayed by everyone to observe. This is a form of control because people are more likely to behave well to earn a higher rating to be able to enjoy higher quality things. In real life, this idea of social media in relation to panopticism is an important one; with social media, the people are controlled because there are eyes everywhere.
Despite these startling relationships, I'm still going to enjoy using Twitter multiple times throughout my day.