Nosedive 🫠 Digital life versus Reality

In this article, I analyse the differences between digital life and reality. As a digital content creator, I am critical of the imbalance between digital feedback and real-life interactions.

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Series episode analysis + What I see

As a digital content creator, I felt it was important to share my thoughts on the assessment hunt. It is often called a culture of evaluation. This culture means that people place more emphasis on the number of likes, shares, comments and other digital feedback than on real-life personal connections and experiences.

As a fan of the “Black Mirror” series, the episode “Nosedive” will help me with this. I’ve seen it at least 10 times, it always makes me sad, but it’s still unforgettable. It’s as if I’m watching it over and over again to make sure I don’t forget what’s really important.

It’s very easy to fall into the mistake of putting up a post, doing a lot of work on it, in fact it takes weeks and months of work to generate the relevant knowledge. And then we watch how many people have seen it – who likes it, we’d like to crawl our whole profile to see what works.

Then we realise that we don’t need to pay so much attention to it. If you do it right and there is an audience, it works anyway. Even without constantly pressing F5. I write a lot of content for myself, for example. I remind myself of the important things. If it’s useful for others, that’s great. In fact, when I’m sad, it can really cheer me up.

But why this strong start, what will we talk about?

I feel a bit like I’ve been invited to a dinner party and I’m in the car on the way home


Today, people are increasingly communicating through digital channels, where recognition, achievements, career and life presentation are largely concentrated on social media platforms.

LinkedIn, as the world’s largest professional network, plays a particularly important role in this process. This platform allows people to showcase their professional achievements, share their thoughts and ideas and connect with other professionals from around the world. It represents value, better than any other current platform (in my opinion).

So we show what we have achieved, what we want to achieve, what we believe in, where we are going. We’re looking for new business opportunities, our communication channel, and if we have our target group here, then Joker.

Many people think that a LinkedIn profile is better than a CV.

It tells you more for sure, especially if it’s treated. (my goodness, what can mine tell you about me?!….)

So that we’re not just treading carefully, I’ve brought you a series of episodes. So I’m taking the blame with Netflix, not alone. 😊

The “Nosedive” episode of the Black Mirror, which is in the centre today. It warns us of the dangers of taking digital reviews and social media images too seriously.

The story is set in a world where people can rate each other on a five-star system, and this rating affects their social standing. Society has become so advanced that everyone has special implants in their eyes to share their daily activities. The scores they get give them advantages or disadvantages in real life. So their digital life comes first, their real life depends on it.

The protagonist, Lacie, is a young woman who wants to buy a luxury home– and surround herself with luxury people – but first she needs to increase her rating (she has an average score of 4.2, and wants to increase it to at least 4.5 to get a discount). No matter how hard you try, your scores don’t go up. She values and marks all strangers, only to have them value him back. (have you ever been that unknown candidate?)

She eats food She doesn’t like just to share, just like his morning coffee and biscuits. She bites into the biscuit to take a photo, then spits into his napkin. You practically don’t even eat the food, because never eat what she likes, but what looks good on social media. (infinitely disappointing, but I think we’ve all seen it before, where they bring out the food, everyone has their phone out by the time they get there to eat it, and it’s cold – but in return, 10 people have already liked it, so it was worth it).

On the advice of an expert , Lacie tries to be more natural on social media and uploads a photo of an old childhood plushie she took with her childhood friend Naomi.

Yes, the effort is to be natural!

Of course, there was a reason for this. Because, according to his adviser, you should get points from people with high scores because they are worth more. (From valuable people!)

It may help that her old friend (with whom she was never really honest, in fact!) has expressed her approval of the picture and invites her to be a bridesmaid at her wedding, where she can get good reviews. This friend has TOP followers. In the digital world, her life is perfect.

She’s beautiful, the people around him are beautiful, She’s rich, She’s sporty, She travels.

Lacie accepts the invitation, hoping that the many guests will reward her with a good score. Especially as She has to make a speech, so She can also act. She prepares a lot for the speech, of course, putting Naomi on a pedestal and having to cry a lot during the speech to convey emotion and move others – she practices this crying a lot. She has to show emotions that she hasn’t actually experienced in order to make an impact on her audience.

However, on the day of your trip, you will experience a number of unpleasant events that will cause your score to drop below 4.2. Your flight will be cancelled and you will no longer be entitled to transfer to another flight because of the reduced score. Because of his scandal at the airport, his score is further reduced (he said a bad word) and he is deducted a whole point for 24 hours. So she is forced to continue his journey in a broken-down car, but the car runs out of fuel.

You have to stop – Susan, the truck driver with a score of 1.4, picks you up. No one else will stop her, because they see his “value” from afar.

If you have a low score, you must have a problem.

Susan says that she used to care about her score (and only her score), but since her husband died of cancer because his score made him ineligible for life-saving treatment, she no longer cares. Since then, she feels much freer. She allowed himself to be judged by others.

Along the way, Naomi calls Lacie several times, asking her not to come because her negative score is starting to make her afraid of herself. This only makes Lacie angrier and she decides to be there anyway and prove that she is 4.5 and above.

He sneaks in, grabs the microphone – he’s covered in mud by this time – and begins his speech, in which he also intersperses his childhood grievances with those of Naomi. By the way, even though Lacie’s size is a good XL, Naomi sent her a bridesmaid dress XS, because it has to fit.

Lacie is in need in every possible way.

It is terribly embarrassing to watch. Finally, he grabs a knife and threatens to cut the plush’s neck. The guests score Lacie, who drops below 1 star. You are detained and have your eye implant removed. When he notices that he and his cellmate opposite cannot see each other’s scores, they start to enjoy berating each other, knowing that there will be no consequences. Incidentally, his cellmate is a smart young man in a suit. He probably had a very bad day too.

“Nosedive” presents a future where social media and digital technology are shaping people’s lives. If someone’s rating drops, they could even be fired from their job.

This vision has many parallels with the LinkedIn platform, where people can gain recognition and opportunities based on their professional reviews and connections. However, the Netflix series warns us of the dangers of taking these assessments too seriously and letting the digital world define our real lives. This warning is particularly important for digital content creators.

Dare to write your real opinion, show your uniqueness or not be a sharer, but have a lot of followers and advertising space on your website? And with that, the bounty hunters should be after you. Go with the crowd, agree with opinion leaders, get behind the biggest leaders and stay measured… share other people’s articles and motivational videos…

OR

You can fill your professional page with shirtless Old Spice guys, speculative fiction, psycho-thrillers and cats dressed as businessmen – because through them you can convey who you are and what you stand for, what you believe in, what you take responsibility for. What’s cool.

So where exactly did today’s article come from?

I saw a post about Hell in Trade magazine (AI created the new energy drink flavour and even suggested the way to launch it). Very exciting, check it out – I’ve reposted it.

I saw 2 comments below. I read them before I commented. There was one about AI taking away the work of marketers and food engineers, the other about it being too much hype and the story not really being as big as it is – and I stopped for a minute. I was going to write that it’s brilliant, we should use the technology and how great that Hell is responding so quickly (that Hell’s marketer is responding so quickly). I seriously thought about this article, it’s out there for a few minutes. If everyone turns against tech now, but I’m the only one who doesn’t, how’s that? Am I seeing it wrong and is it already more dangerous than I think? Should I not already be praising the process? Then I decided why not! Why not see things differently? Max what? Nothing. 😊

But! I stopped for a minute, too. How many people might not comment on topics, stopping because they are afraid it will look bad on their profile. To be seen by the boss, the co-worker, the business parties… so don’t you dare be divisive. Because you have to behave in all circumstances and prefer not to share content.

Did you know?

Around 1% of LinkedIn users share content on the platform every week, which is around 9.3 million users.

LinkedIn’s global user base will reach around 930 million in 2023.

Out of 930 million users, 9.3 million are active.

52 million users search for a new job on LinkedIn every week, probably because they don’t feel valued

“Nosedive” is not only a vision of the future, it is also a warning. In the story, Lacie’s life is increasingly focused on numbers and ratings, trying to follow the critical mass. This eventually leads to a slide down the slope. At one point, for example, Lacie’s co-worker, who is going through a break-up, is not allowed into the office because her rating is too low. This scene symbolises the dangers of defining our personal value solely in terms of digital assessments.

You can see this trend on LinkedIn. People often upload the best moments of their lives, their greatest achievements and show their best side. But what happens if someone is in a bad mood or loses their job? What happens if someone makes a mistake?

The Nosedive episode warns that in a digital world it is easy to forget thatpeople are more than their digital ratings.

It’s good if you can upload 1-2 diplomas to your profile, but what’s behind them? Can you tell us what you know? Dare you say what you think? Dare to be different? Do you dare to be yourself, or are you just building your personal brand and going for sales?

I know I shouldn’t over-mystify, but I see everyone on LinkedIn as very strong and successful. Everyone is celebrating, everyone is doing very well. Of course if you’re already showing off on such a platform it’s worth putting your best face forward, but is it more effective? Is it counterproductive?

Is that the purpose of this platform? Only talk about what is a success? Can’t we learn better from mistakes and failures?

The EPR tax just exploded and I don’t see a single article about it. I’m sure a lot of business owners are having headaches with e.g. a 7-10% increase in purchase prices in some places – how do you deal with it? Where is it charged and from when? Are you already on holiday wondering what new strategy you will suddenly put in place or will you wait until you get home? Most of the people here are high-level people, professionals, entrepreneurs. I’m sure others are clicking too.

The “Nosedive” pastel, a bit of LinkedIn too. Let’s have some people who speak their minds and sometimes sound the alarm. I learnt most during the crises. It would be good to read about others. Everybody makes mistakes. We learn from them.

I’m very comfortable on this platform, more than any other, but the pressure to prove myself, the need to present every success in great detail and “I’m building a serious business and I’ve done a photo shoot” is daunting. You need it, because of course you do. But is everyone really innovating and creating in 0-24? Of course not! And you don’t have to, come on.

People are more than their LinkedIn (or any other social media) profile.

  1. But will there ever come a LindedIn vol2?
  2. Will we be like Lacie one day?
  3. Or if we are lucky, Naomi?
  4. Perhaps this will be the basis for our children?
  5. Where are we going?

Real life is more than the digital world.

Be a hypocrite and say all this on a digital platform, but what’s true is true. Everyone is here. Let’s try to be here, but also in real life!

What do you think? Please write BRAVELY in the comments.

I welcome it when someone dares to say something different from the majority.

I bid farewell to this episode with a video. What can I say, take a look. 🙂