Links Between Social Networking And Happiness In Netflix's Black Mirror

A few months ago, Netflix premiered its third installment of their hit show Black Mirror, beginning with the first episode entitled “Nosedive”. The main character, Lacie Pound, lives in a technology-obsessed, quasi-futuristic world where both friends and strangers can rate each other’s popularity and individual interactions out of five stars via cellphone and smart-lens technology. Most everyone has their phone glued to their hand, and are constantly updating their Facebook-esque social media accounts in hopes of achieving higher ratings. Since this rating system so heavily affects social standing (with people below a 2.5 average star-rating considered to be lower-class), Lacie becomes obsessed with being well-recived within the online sphere. Society continues to tell Lacie that by continuously updating her social media accounts, and perfecting her fleeting, individual encounters with nearly everyone whom she encounters in order to incur higher ratings (as opposed to having close, personal friends) – she will find happiness. However, with this advice in mind, Lacie continues to struggle to find true happiness – and per scientific research: rightfully so. Society, as so defined in this …show more content…
While there have been numerous studies that show a positive link within various social networking procedures and happiness levels, there have been numerous other studies that have shown either a negative link, or no link at all. Being that the characters within the “Nosedive” episode use social networking technology relating closest to Facebook, I found it important to include research done on the link between Facebook and happiness levels as it relates to potential, negative outcomes within Lacie’s quest for