Pajaro, Aristy Ed B.

Hum 1 – A7
BS MetE-V

Black Mirror S03E01 : Nosedive Reaction Paper

As time passes by, it is becoming more evident that we live in a society in which everything operates beneath a system. People

seems spending their whole lives following ideal norms and measures to impress. People are so conscious and mindful on things which

are really not that necessary and significant. People’s ambitions and goals solely established and based on standards the society had set.

As far as I can recall, as I’ve been growing up, the career and path I want to pursue changes all the time. On the moments I came to the

thoughts of changing careers I want to pursue, I only really have the tip of the deep reason why I came up to those ideas. Realizations and

understanding outpour on me that the deeper rationale on why I have the confusion on what path I want to take is that I am really

influenced and exposed to the pattern of life that the society has shown us and told us on what a successful life is.

Nosedive shows us how society’s standards push us to choose and embrace reputation over our own happiness. It shows us

how technological platforms offer more disadvantages than the advantages. Division and discrimination were clearly depicted in the

episode. The technology pushes people to classify others based on biased and deceptive criteria. Privileges and daily necessities are

exclusive to those who follow the schematic ideology of the system that is easily being cheated and swindled. People are forced to show a

façade and perform kindness to others just to maintain their statuses. People aren’t being themselves anymore. The episode didn’t even

show us the lower social class and how does the system work in there. People don’t even know who is genuine to them or who are just

faking it. The isolation of people who failed to act in accordance with is very pitiful and miserable.

As a child that grew up on the lower class society, looking up to those who are successful made me encouraged to strive to get

me and my family out of the hardships we experience daily. It is in this moment that I realize that all the drive I had was just because of the

practicality of life, not my personal desire on striving for what I really want to be. It became clearer that grades and academic

performances majorly dictate on what kind of life you’ll have in the near future. It’s obvious how those who already have privileges

growing up have a mile long advantage than those who don’t. The thing about Nosedive that helps me realize these things is that, I

arrived in this moment where I am about to finish more than 15 years of being a student but then I rarely have times for myself to decide

on what are the best for me and everyone around. I’ve been trying my best almost half of my life to achieve what everyone else told me

what I needed to achieve. But have I been really attentive on how lucky I am to be here? Have I been aware of my privileges? Have I been

thankful enough to everyone who helped me get up to this point? Have I been so selfish to the point that all my life I’ve been working

hard, all my focus is just to become successful and not considering how I deal with the society and to the people around me? Am I too

focused to prove myself to everyone else and then it led me to forget making myself a better person? These are some of the questions

that came up to my mind after watching the episode of Black Mirror, and it gave me some light to divert my attention to more important

things right now than those unnecessary ones. And then I really hope that we don’t come to the point in where social rating dictates us to

who are we really are, because all we damn know that everyone and everything in this world is not fair and equal.