This document provides a summary of 3 key points from the literature review section of a dissertation analyzing the Black Mirror episode "The Entire History of You": 1. Technological determinism argues that technology drives social change, while others believe society shapes technology. McLuhan viewed technology as extensions of humans, but critics say it ignores human agency. 2. Privacy has eroded with new technologies like social media that give access to people's personal lives. However, others argue technology itself is neutral and how it's used determines effects on privacy. 3. The dissertation will analyze how "The Entire History of You" represents issues of privacy, surveillance and how technology impacts relationships and identity in a dystopian future

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Technology and Society
How does the episode Black Mirror: The Entire History of You
represent issues of privacy, surveillance and technology?
Claire Cross
BA Media and English Literature
LA690 Dissertation
Student Number: 12818560
Supervisor: Vy Rajapillai
Word Count: 10,970

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Acknowledgements
I would like to give a big thanks to Vy Rajapillai who has aided me greatly through this process and
remained calm after a thousand questions about referencing.
Abstract
This dissertation explores how the development of technology, particularly the internet and social
media, has an effect on privacy and surveillance in society; focusing on the episode of Black Mirror –
The Entire History of You and its representation of privacy, surveillance and technology in the
programme. Recent advances in technology show a rise in surveillance throughout areas of society
which are ultimately causing a decline in privacy for the everyday user. This episode of Black Mirror
represents a dystopian surveillance society that depend on technology in their everyday lives – the
representation shows a decline in privacy as the technology becomes more present in the characters
lives. Throughout this dissertation I shall be exploring the episode and comparing and reflecting on
the role technology has in our lives; whether it is shaped by society or society is adapting and
changing as a result of growing technology. This essay is ultimately suggesting that the power is in
our hands and technology only has negative effects when it is abused (something that is the
underlying message throughout The Entire History of You.)

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Contents
1. Introduction Page 4
2. Literature Review Page 5
2.1. Technological Determinism Page 5
2.2. Privacy and Surveillance Page 9
3. Methodology Page 15
3.1. Summary of Black Mirror Page 16
3.2. Summary of The Entire History of You Page 16
3.3. The Characters in The Entire History of You Page 17
4. The Entire History of You Analysis Page 19
4.1. Morality Page 19
4.2. Privacy and Surveillance Page 20
4.3. Identity Page 29
4.4. Trust and Relationships Page 32
5. Conclusion Page 37
6. Bibliography Page 38

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1. Introduction
Technology is an ever growing and advancing aspect within our society; it has progressed
rapidly at the turn of the 21st century and societies are now completely surrounded by
technological devices at all times. The role of technology is discussed in media texts and its
powerful position in our society is often represented, Black Mirror is known for its dark
themes, focusing particularly on technological advances. Throughout this dissertation I shall
be looking at the work of academics to identify the role of technology in society and using
the television programme Black Mirror as a case study and analysing it as a representation of
technology in the 21st century.
I will be presenting a variety of arguments surrounding technology, privacy and surveillance,
I will outline my research methods in my methodology and then analyse “The Entire History
of You” in order to explore how ‘The Entire History of You’ represents the issues of privacy,
surveillance and technology.

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2. Literature Review
2.1 Technological Determinism
McLuhan (McLuhan:1964) believes that technology is the driving force of change in society,
shaping the way we live our lives and conduct ourselves. He believes technology is an
extension of the self, developing human experience and expanding on human capabilities. He
emphasises that when studying technology it is not the machine or tool itself that is
significant, instead we should be focusing on what it does to our society. McLuhan’s
perspective has been coined technological determinism; it is an extremely significant
perspective when studying the role of technology within society;
McLuhan states “The message of any medium or technology is the change of scale or pace or
pattern that it introduces into human affairs.” (McLuhan:1964:16) Claiming that technology
altars our relations and interactions with one another, McLuhan studies the effects of
technology in the development of our society.
McLuhan uses the railway system as an analogy for the advances in technology and the way
that they help society progress:
“The railway did not introduce movement or transport or wheel or road into human
society, but it accelerated and enlarged the scale of previous human functions,
creating totally new kinds of work and leisure. This happened whether the railway
functioned in a tropical or a northern environment, and is quite independent of the
freight or content of the railway medium.” (McLuhan:1964:16)
This analogy is comparable with the internet – a catalyst for human dependence on
technology – the internet is a relatively new form of media that has created an entirely new
medium for information and entertainment. As McLuhan has said, the internet may not have
been the first form of media but it has accelerated our use of the media massively, allowing
us to be constantly connected to a ‘cyberworld’ and aiding us in expanding our knowledge
and technology greatly.
McLuhan (1964) has heavily critiqued David Sarnoff following his statement;
“We are too prone to make technological instruments the scapegoats for the sins of
those who wield them. The products of modern science are not in themselves good or
bad; it is the way they are used that determines their value.” (McLuhan:1964:19)

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McLuhan makes a number of criticisms claiming that Sarnoff ignores the nature of the
medium; that it never occurs to him that any technology could do anything but add itself on
to what we already are. Sarnoff states that it is not technology that causes change in our
world; it is dependent on our reaction and uses of this technology. We cause change in
society. This is oppositional to McLuhan’s work, hence his criticisms. Harper (1999:15)
claims that McLuhan hoped technological advances would liberate people from printed word;
McLuhan argues TV and Film was better as it stimulated multiple senses, making this
medium more in-tune with our minds – furthering his ideas that technology was an extension
of the self.
For Raymond Williams, technologies involve exactly what McLuhan dismisses – he claims
that they cannot be separated from the ways they are used and their context, and also
emphasises the significance that they arise from human agency and intention, technology is
historically and culturally specific and is adapted in response to demands from social groups.
Whilst McLuhan believes that technology stems from psychological and biological reasons,
Williams critiques that they are in fact sociological changes, it’s the power of certain social
groups that determines the “pace and scale” of the change – and that technology arises from
existing technologies, thus adapting in response to society.
It has been said that when studying technology it’s important to focus on the reasons that
technology is developed, the social, cultural and economic factors that shape them and the
way technologies are mobilised for certain ends. Williams states that technologies have uses
and effects that are unforeseen by their creators and developed by society’s use of them.
(Williams: cited in Lister et al: 2003:81) This is something that McLuhan would agree with.
Furthermore, Williams states that “a technology, when it has been achieved, can be seen as a
general human property, an extension of human capacity” (Williams: cited in Lister et
al:2003:81) he has faced criticism for this as there is nothing in a particular technology that
guarantees it’s mode of use and in return, it’s social effects.
Technological determinists believe that “technology is the single most important force
driving human history” (Reed:2014:9) This places all change of society in the hands of
technology in full belief that we shape ourselves around it. In earlier studies it was suggested
that something in technology would lead to either dystopian or utopian outcomes. Reed states
that “neither has happened because technology never acts alone” (Reed:2014:10)

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Post and Crone have further argued that technological determinism has no commonly-
accepted definition, they study many scholars that have added to the meaning – concluding
that “technological determinism employed is a soft, social constructionist approach which
maintains that technology develops autonomously, following an internal logic which is
independent of external influences; and that technology shapes society by having economic
and social impact.” (Bijker:2010:71: cited in: Post and Crone:2014:3)
They identify three themes when identifying technological arguments;
Firstly they argue that Technological Imperative connects social media with the ability to
drive social change; a ‘new generational wave, a new democratic wave’ (Post and
Crone:2014:5) is mentioned, the new generational wave revolves around technology and the
effortless adoption of technology that occurs with young people. New technologies are
creating a new method of communication between young people and with this; a new method
of advertising to them. Technological determinists believe that youthful generations are
educated by social media and made aware of worldly issues and other news they would have
been uninformed of beforehand.
Second, Technological Specificity focuses on media specific characteristics, treating social
media as if “social media has a homogeneous, undifferentiated character which can only be
used effectively.” Within this argument there are four characteristics that are often repeated
within the corpus; these characteristics are Time, Space, Hierarchy and Amplification. Social
Media is an extremely powerful form of new media as it is practically instant, communication
can occur at any time in an extreme speed. The effects are also instant. The space is so vast it
is difficult to control, it transcends natural barriers. It equalises power relations and invites
and equalises personal relations. (Post and Crone:2014:6) Combining these characteristics
creates a very significant and powerful method of social control and change.
Finally they discuss Unintended Consequences; Technological Determinism has been the
subject of a lot of criticism as “technology like social media is neutral or value-free, and that
what counts is not the technology by the manner in which we choose to use it.” This is a
common criticism of technological determinism as technology is man-made: many believe
that it is created as a reaction of the current culture and want of society, which in turn drives
society forward. “Cyber Pessimists” make the argument of the unintended consequence. They
argue if we only focus on the positive aspects of technology we forget the unintended and
negative consequences that are equally as important. This argument assumes that “social

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media has a specific enlightened function or potential which can be defiled; however this
does rely on human agency.” They further their argument claiming that anybody has access
to social media which makes the legitimacy of sites insecure and promotes the idea that it can
easily be used as a form of social control. This argument also touches upon ideas of privacy
and problems of privacy when using technology, particularly when networking.
Most scholars now reject extreme forms of technological determinism. A frequent criticism
of the perspective is that it exaggerates the extent of which social meanings arise from
technological innovations, critics also argue that it is incredibly flawed as it ignores the fact
that people and culture create technology therefore literally meaning that they shape and
mould technology as a result of the need and demand of their culture.
This view stems from the work of Technocultural Analysis (Reed:2014), a theoretical
perspective that is almost entirely oppositional of technological determinists views and often
critique them. Technocultural analysis believes that culture creates technology and neither
can be neatly separated as they’re created by individuals and shaped by assumptions and
biases. (Reed:2014:11)
When discussing the effects that technology has on culture and society, Technocultural
Analysis states that choices about what technology becomes popular is deeply social and
cultural (Reed:2014:12) – we as individuals have the choice to utilise certain technologies
and in turn, decide their popularity. Concluding that technologies are then adapted through
further sociocultural processes.
Lyon criticises Technological determinism arguing that the perspective deflects attention
from the real world of material bodies and active selves. He explores social determinisms
commenting that they are as inadequate as technological ores; Lyon believes that
technological artefacts effectively guide, constrain, enable and limit social activities. To deny
the reality of their role within social relations is to turn a blind eye to one of the most
pervasive features in social life today. (Lyon:2001:25)
Reed discusses different ideas firstly stating that “one reason there are no easy answers about
what new technologies are doing to us is that the subject is incredibly vast and changing at a
phenomenal rate.” (Reed:2014:3) Enhancing the idea that there is no clear answer to the role
of technology in the changes in society as it is constantly undergoing changes, similarly to

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society itself. Reed gives statistics outlining how large the internet, particularly social media
is;
“If Facebook were a country, it would be the third largest nation in the world.
YouTube broadcasts more in a day than all major TV networks have broadcast in their
entire history. In the history of the world, counting every language, there have been
about a hundred billion printed books; the amount of information contained in that
number of volumes is uploaded onto the web every month.” (Reed:2014:3)
This accentuates and acknowledges the size of the internet and its power within our society,
social media has allowed a new platform for people to publish their own work, thoughts and
general lives. As a response of this the internet has become a large part of many people’s
lives; new technologies such as ‘smartphones’ have allowed people to be connected to the
internet at all time, furthering the content in this ‘cyberspace.’ Social media is particularly
important in the study of privacy and surveillance in the 21st century as it has been a major
catalyst for technological change and advances.
2.2 Privacy and Surveillance
A prominent theme in the study of technology is privacy; many theorists discuss a breakdown
in privacy as technology advances.
Reed states that “privacy itself is a relatively modern concept...In the modern world however,
we have become accustomed to a fairly high degree of personal privacy. Yet with remarkable
rapidity the digital era has severely eroded spaces of privacy.” (Reed:2014:57) New media -
particularly the internet - has allowed institutions and companies to access people in their
homes, with the rise of social media and the internet we have constant access to the rest of the
world and allow people to see our personal lives at all times. Although there are privacy
settings and actions people can take in order to protect some of their privacy online, it is still
very much present in their personal lives and able to gain more information than many people
think is available. Byford (1998:Cohen:2000:960) claims that “Privacy is not merely a means
of maintaining individual self constructs but could function as a foundation for negotiating
social relationships and distribution of social and political power.” This relates heavily to the
use of social networking sites, the constant use of social networking sites has allowed them to
gain power in our society, they can be used for promotion of a variety of things be it people,
products or beliefs.

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Boyd and Ellison (2008) argue that privacy settings falsely lull people into a state of
security,– while browsing the internet there are many warnings and terms and conditions that
are shown to users to ‘protect their privacy’ however people have become so accepting of
these that they accept whatever pops up on their screens, which could in turn lead to users
agreeing to things they have no idea about. This is common with “Terms and Conditions;”
many people will see a long list of terms and agree to them without a second thought, failing
to stop and question what they could be agreeing too. This reinforces Reed’s idea giving the
impression that having the most recent app overrules the users need for privacy. People are
openly accepting that they are under surveillance in order to be part of social media and other
online activities.
Simon Garfinkel (2001) claims that to understand privacy in the 21st Century we must look at
privacy in the 20th century; he highlights the significance of the internet when looking at a
decline in privacy; accentuating how significant the distribution of power is and reinforcing
the idea that the breakdown of privacy isn’t a problem because of people wanting to hide
things – it’s a problem for people that have power and are able to find anything they would
like to. In many cases, concerning innocent people that have nothing to hide.
Later Garfinkel discusses the cause of the change in privacy over time stating that “Today’s
war on privacy is intimately related to the dramatic advances in technology we’ve seen in
recent years...Unrestrained technology ends privacy.” (Garfinkel:2001:5) Here Garfinkel
stresses the issues that can occur in society in response to the rapid advances of technology
and suggests that as users’ we must have more control over our usage of the devices.
“Privacy is fundamentally about the power of the individual” (Garfinkel:2001:5) Garfinkel
continues to say whilst relating technology to institutions, claiming that both are a tool of
social control and are aiding in the breakdown of privacy in society. He states that
“institutions and the people that run them use technology to gain control over the human
spirit, for good and ill.” (ibid.) Further stressing that it is not technology alone that causes the
problems with privacy, it is the way in which technology can be used by others that is the
issue.
Turkle (2011) discusses the human relationship with technology, exploring the reasons that
technology has become such a large part of our social lives in modern society. She states that
“Technology is seductive when what it offers meets our human vulnerabilities...We are
lonely but fearful of intimacy. Digital connections and the sociable robot may offer the

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illusion of companionship without the demands of friendship. Our networked life allows us to
hide from each other, even as we are tethered to each other.” (Turkle:2011:1) Technology has
completely changed communication in the past decade and we now rely on devices to
conduct our conversations and even build relationships.
Social media is extremely significant in the development of technology and an increase in
surveillance in modern society as it promotes and provides forms of surveillance. Many
academics have studied social media and its effects on society, highlighting the ease of
surveillance as a result of social media. I will be discussing this further throughout my
literature review.
New media and technologies are often seen as a method of surveillance in the 21st century, as
many forms of new technology allow users to be surveilled easily. Tokunaga (2014:705)
emphasises that social media is rife with surveillance as users post many aspects about their
lives on these websites – the basic sign-up procedure for many websites asks users to enter
their age, occupation and place of residence, the basic information of a person’s life is
required if they wish to join social networking sites, thus setting the platform for further
information to be posted online. Boyd and Ellison (2008: cited by Tokunaga:2014:705) argue
that the popularity of social networking sites and the way that they’re used promote greater
access to personal information.
Furthermore, Luedtke (2003) also discusses the effects of social media arguing that;
“Social networking sites deeply penetrate their users everyday lives and... tend to
become invisible once they are widely adopted, ubiquitous and taken for granted.” (Luedtke;
2003: Para 1: cited in Lovejoy et al: 2009: 83)
Foucault (1997) discusses the Panopticon in relation to the internet. The Panopticon is a
prison structure which allows one watchman to observe all of the inmates in a prison without
them being able to see whether they are being observed. Although it is physically impossible
for one man to watch all of the cells at one time, the fact that the prisoners are unaware when
they are being watched means they are at constant risk of being caught doing something
wrong – minimising the amount of wrong-doings in the prison. The idea of panopticon is
very much present in “The Entire History of You,” I will be discussing this in more detail in
my analysis.

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This is often related to internet culture as internet users are unknowingly subjected to the
surveillance of Big and Little brother every day. (D’Urso:2006) Big brother refers to
government agencies that observe patterns of internet use and the content of online
communication and Little brother are organisations and other internet users that engage in
surveillance to find out more about the behaviour of others in order to aid businesses.
Surveillance frequently occurs for a number of reasons; people rely on surveillance to
examine their environment, in search for deviant behaviour. This stems from fear of danger in
their environment, causing people to believe that surveillance and finding the route of such
behaviour will remove it. “Partners use networking sites as a relational maintenance
strategy,” (Tokunaga:2010:706) signs of infidelity may appear on social networking sites
through evidence of conversations and contact – this could lead to interpersonal surveillance
over social networking sites. Surveillance is also used at the beginning of relationships, social
media profiles include the interests of users, making it easier for potential relationships to
blossom after gathering an idea of user’s interests.
David Lyon claims that surveillance societies are technologically dependent, stating that there
is “no meaningful discussion of topics such as surveillance and privacy that does not refer to
technology.” (Lyon:2001:23) He discusses a “technosocial” (ibid.) society pointing out that
technological innovation is too frequently seen as the prime mover that produces information
societies and cyber societies.
In a study of Facebook Users, Joinson (2008) found that after keeping in touch with friends,
social surveillance is the second most reported motive when generating thoughts about social
networking sites. (Tokunaga:2014:707) Tokunaga (2014:706) argues that by using web based
social media there’s a presumption that people are accepting being under surveillance.
Facebook is an extremely popular social networking website, it has over 1.23 billion monthly
users (Google:2015) and has become a significant medium for communication in modern
society. Users often post images, thoughts and even their location on this website to a group
of people named “Friends” that are able to see it. Facebook does have privacy settings
although there are faults within them, many people are unaware of them and once you are
someone’s “Friend” on the website the privacy settings serve no purpose. Therefore
Facebook is an easy tool for surveillance.

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Lovejoy, Horn and Hughes (2009) have studied Facebook and its privacy settings, they
discuss that all social media is pervasive and pervasive technology often leads to unintended
consequences – issues such as a decline in privacy and blurred lines in the private and public
sphere. Jones and Soltren (2005) discovered a significant flaw in the Facebook privacy
settings, they found that more than 74% of users knew of the privacy settings but only 62% of
them used them; 89% have never read the privacy policy and 91% were unfamiliar with the
terms of the service. (2005:Lovejoy et al:2009:86) These statistics give light to the lack of
knowledge surrounding social media’s privacy settings and highlight that many users are
unprotected on the internet, making themselves vulnerable to surveillance.
Reed argues that;
“Privacy is about controlling what information about yourself or groups to which you
belong is available to others. By that definition, and regardless of what it is a
particular person wishes to keep private, privacy has been deeply eroded through the
use of digital technologies.” (Reed:2014:58)
Facebook – and many other websites – are constantly tracking the online activity of users and
using “cookies” to build a profile of their interests, in order to use them later for
advertisements and promote media texts. Woo states that “nearly every activity on the
internet is being reported, transformed into data and profiled.” (Woo:2006:954)
Blumler and Katz (1974:Lovejoy et al:2009:89) focused on the reasons that social media is so
popular using the uses and gratifications theory, they concluded that there are three reasons
that people use social networking sites; they fulfil a need for diversion and entertainment, the
need for para-social relationships and the need for identity construction. Facebook offers the
promise of gratification for all these needs, persuading users that it is good and potentially
overriding their concerns about privacy. This represents many forms of social media and
technology as a whole, the sole purpose of technological devices is to bring ease to various
aspects of a users life; media has always promised entertainment and escapism, but with the
emergence of social media, media is now promising entertainment and relationships –
creating devices that allow users to bond and create relationships through machinery.
“Perhaps the evolving obsession with developing a persona and maintaining
communication through technology is so embedded in the typical college students ecology

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that to not engage in this form of communication would be social death.” (Lovejoy et al:
2009: 101)
Blumler and Katz (2009) emphasise that media is no longer used informational and
entertainment purposes, it has become something that is used habitually as part of people’s
everyday routines. This further suggests that we are becoming increasingly dependent on
technology and that the technological advances will become more pervasive.
Lyon proceeds to discuss visible and invisible forms of surveillance and argues that
“technological systems are both socially shaped and have social consequences, some of
which go beyond the intentions inscribed in their shaping. Machines themselves may be
miniaturised or disguised and the silent and subtle process of surveillant sorting proceeds
relentlessly.” (Lyon:2001:25) Lyon refers back to his views of the technosocial stating that
“the artefacts and systems are perceived and formed by social actors and social contexts, but
they also serve to give shape to social relationships.” (ibid.)
Lyon uses an analogy to further explain his perspective; he discusses Robert Moses, a New
York planner that created height restrictions on bridges that prevented buses carrying black
and poor people from reaching certain areas in the city. Lyon argues that new technology
surveillance systems continue to do this invisibly today, affecting lives through categorisation
and risk management. (Lyon:2001:25)
Hayles (1999:Reed:2014:67) adopts a post-humanist perspective, arguing that new
technologies have transformed human qualities so radically that we need to speak of a post
human species – Hayles claims that computers are prosthetics, giving us capabilities that we
lack and the development of new technologies aims to create new capabilities beyond our
human bodies. New media’s give us communication capabilities as they allow us to be
connected to people all over the world at the touch of a button and communication
technologies are adapting at a rapid rate containing more features that are more convenient
and helpful in our everyday lives. For this reason the post humanist perspective is significant
in the study of technology as it explores the advantages and results of living in a society that
is technologically privileged.

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3. Methodology
In order to carry out this investigation I have used textual analysis and used semiotics within
this to unpack my topic and provide a stronger argument.
A textual analysis is a method for researchers to gather information about how other human
beings make sense of the world. It is a method of gathering data for those who want to
understand the ways in which members of various cultures make sense of who they are and
how they fit into the world. (Mckee:2003:1) When using textual analysis, researchers make
an educated guess of “the most likely interpretation that might be made of that text” (ibid.)
I have chosen to do a textual analysis deconstruct the programme, the television programme I
am analysing has many cultural aspects. By using this method I have been able to explore
aspects within the programme that reflect cultural aspects of a dystopian society focusing
particularly on the role technology has in modern society. This text is rich and full of
connotations allowing me to conduct a thorough analysis to unpack the ideas regarding
technology, privacy and surveillance.
The study of media from the semiotic perspective was initiated in by Roland Barthes; he
applied basic sign theory to the analysis to a variety of media genres, stating that it can
expose the implicit meanings built into them. (Danesi:2002:23) “Human intellectual and
social life is based on the production, use and exchange of signs.” (Denesi:2002:28) The
primary object of media semiotics is to study how the mass media create or recycle signs for
their own ends, it does this by asking; what something means of represents, how it
exemplifies its meaning and why it has the meaning that it does. (Danesi:2002:34)
“The shortest definition of semiotics is that it is the study of signs.” (Chandler:2002:1) Eco
states that semiotics is concerned with everything that can be taken as a sign (Eco:1976:7:
Chandler:2002:2) and semiotics involves the study of not only what we refer to as signs but
also anything which stands for something else. (ibid.) These signs take the form of text,
imagery, sounds, gestures and objects.
I have been using semiotics in my analysis to explore the messages and connotations in the
episode in further detail; The Entire History of You has many visual aspects that can be
analysed in depth and give the messages throughout the show a deeper meaning. The episode
is rife with significant signs that add meaning to the messages and support my argument,
therefore I shall be using this method to support my textual analysis.

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3.1 A brief explanation of Black Mirror and The Entire History of You
Black Mirror is a fictitious anthology series. It has dark and satirical themes that run
throughout the series that explore modern society, focusing particularly on the role of
advancing technologies and the affect they could have on life as we know it.
The Entire History of You is the final episode in the first season of Black Mirror. This
episode follows the lives of people that have been implanted with “The Grain.” The Grain is
a piece of technology that works through the user’s eyesight; it is constantly recording the
happenings of the wearer. The controller of the grain has the power to delete certain
memories and encrypt their grain so that other people are unable to see every aspect of their
personal lives however the wearer is able to share their memories with others.
The episode focuses on Liam, a husband and father that is an active user of ‘The Grain.’ Soon
in to the episode we realise that Liam becomes suspicious about his wife and her ex-
boyfriend; he obsessively watches recordings of them to try and find evidence of her
infidelity. Throughout the episode we see Liam become increasingly controlling and
aggressive – he eventually finds out that she has in fact been unfaithful and this results in the
end of his marriage.

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3.3 The Characters
A prominent scene within the episode is the dinner party; the grain is discussed a lot
throughout this scene and we are shown the perspectives of different characters, giving
viewers an insight into the workings of the grain in the lives of other characters.
Liam
Liam is the protagonist; he is a husband and father who
frequently uses the grain. Throughout the episode Liam’s
relationship with the technology changes and he becomes
suspicious of his wife, leading him to act aggressive and
controlling.
Figure 1: Liam
Ffion
Ffion is Liam’s wife, the cause of his suspicion
after he sees her flirting with an ex-boyfriend.
Throughout the episode we see her trying to make
the marriage work, whilst hiding the affair she has
had with Jonas.
Figure 2: Ffion
Jonas
Jonas is Ffion’s ex boyfriend, he is a confident and
outgoing character that shares personal information
about his past relationships. Liam instantly
dislikes Jonas, after suspecting something is going on
between him and Fi.
Hallam
Hallam is different to the rest of
the characters as she has chosen to live without “the grain.”
She was ‘gauged’ and the grain was stolen from her.
She is subject to a lot of confusion from the other characters
that don’t understand her decision. Hallam seems carefree
and relaxed in comparison to the other characters,
suggesting that the grain has given her a sense of freedom. Figure 4: Hallam
Figure 3: Jonas

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Jeff
This character uses the grain to obsess over the
quality of the resources in his establishment,
although this man is obsessing as a result of the grain,
he is an example of an ‘average Joe’ within the show.
His presence in the programme shows viewers a different
perspective of the grain and how it can be used, reinforcing
the idea that the grain isn’t in control of the user and can
be used positively.
Colleen
Colleen works in “grain development;” (Black Mirror, 2011)
she is against the idea of going grainless
and states that she just couldn’t do it. She is a prime
example of someone that is practically brainwashed by
this technology.
Lucy and Paul
Finally there is the couple that are
hosting the gathering, they project footage
from their memories with the guests and use
the grain to entertain throughout the meal.
They too conform to the technology and
are examples of various ways the characters use
their grain.
Figure 5: Jeff
Figure 6: Colleen
Figure 7: Lucy and Paul

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4. The Entire History of You Analysis
4.1 Morality
The episode begins with an appraisal Liam is attending; the people he is meeting with
mention that children are now able to show members of authority all footage of their parents
– giving them evidence if they wish to sue their parents. This is the first thing that gives an
idea of what the grain does; it suggests that there has been a change in what is morally right
after suggesting that it is ethically okay to observe someone’s private life. As well as this it
shows the changes that the technology used has made in society. The idea that children are
able to sue their parents is outrageous which enhances the idea that the society that is
represented has changed drastically over time.
This episode urges viewers to question their morality; there are many aspects throughout the
programme that signify a breakdown in morals within this society. Liam is told that children
have begun suing their parents and asks his colleagues whether they think it is morally right.
His tone suggests that he thinks it is wrong for this to be happening, however he tells the
others he has no problem with it. This is an example of Liam conforming to the beliefs of
others suggesting that his moral compass is easily swayed.
It is also significant that these characters are lawyers; lawyers have a responsibility to bring
justice and are trusted members of society. The idea that the lawyers in this world believe that
this is ethically right shows how much this world differs from our own and displays the
extent to which their beliefs have changed.
This is not the only aspect of the programme that displays a breakdown in morals and ethics
as we know them today – the fact that Liam is re-watching Ffion obsessively to try and catch
her doing something wrong, and even looking through Jonas’ personal archive of memories is
something that raises ethical questions, it is a big invasion of privacy but due to the nature of
the grain and the society that have succumbed to, it is dismissed as something that is ethically
okay.
Marshall (2004) discusses the change that the internet has caused, claiming that the rise of the
internet has encouraged a whole new vernacular, after the emergence of internet slang.

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The grain is comparable to the internet in many ways, it allows easy methods of surveillance
and makes people vulnerable to surveillance, allowing users to publish whatever they wish
similarly to people that have the grain constantly being recorded with an assumed consent
and it has changed many behavioural traits of human beings, causing the characters to do
things that would have once been deemed both crazy and completely immoral.
4.2 Privacy and Surveillance
From the offset it is obvious that the grain is a popular and unavoidable device within the
society being depicted, Liam leaves the meeting and gets in a taxi to the airport, whilst in the
taxi we see some of the features of the grain; he uses it to pay, watches back parts of the
interview and whilst on his journey an advertisement plays in the background promoting a
“willow grain,” a particular model that has different features, an upgrade. This shows the
amount that the characters rely on the grain, throughout the entire episode it is either being
used or it is the focus of discussion – this reinforces the idea that the grain is very much
present in their everyday lives.
Liam violates Ffion’s privacy throughout the episode, demanding to see her personal
memories and showing others their personal lives. This enhances the changes in privacy
throughout the episode, suggesting to viewers that the grain has affected the lives of these
characters.
Figure 8: Ffion flirting with Jonas

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Liam walks into the dinner party and sees Ffion and Jonas flirting. He instantly begins to
obsess, watching back the moment that he walked in on them. He is reading her facial
expressions and body language throughout the scene, using her actions as evidence to support
his suspicions that she is having an affair. He later plays the footage back to her to use it
against her further, whilst also finding other things that he had recorded in the past to support
his argument and prove that she has lied or retold information incorrectly. Liam also plays
back conversations he has had with Fi to the babysitter, asking her what her opinions
surrounding Fi and Jonas are, he is getting her involved in their personal lives and violating
their family privacy.
Liam later goes to Jonas’ house and demands to see Jonas’ memories of Ffion – although this
may be a violation of privacy in our society in Liam’s perspective he is not doing anything
wrong because of the technology around him. The society that he is living has adopted the
grain in their daily lives and it has changed their views of privacy and the right to keep one’s
life private.
He also activates “lip read reconstruction,” a feature that the grain has – this not only shows
the severe level of surveillance in the society but also that Liam trusts the grain instead of his
wife: he can’t be sure that the technology is correct in telling him what they said, yet he
believes it.
The grain takes a step further from what Reed (2014) argued about technology eroding
privacy – throughout the episode nothing is kept personal, everything that Fi does is analysed
by Liam – there is no space for private thoughts because the technology is constantly
recording their lives.
People are able to encrypt their technology yet they are still expected to show their lives to
certain people. This furthers this idea that although a citizen’s privacy may be protected to an
extent, anybody with power is able to access that information with ease – especially the
people they are close to as they are expected to share everything with the people around
them. This can be seen in the episode when a stranger suggests watching Liam’s appraisal
and giving him points on improvement, the characters think it’s normal to watch the private
lives of others, they use it as a form of entertainment.
It is clear that there are privacy issues with the grain, as it is constantly recording a person’s
everyday life. Conversations are recorded and used against a person during arguments and

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disagreements and it appears that nothing that is said is kept secret, unless it is deleted. Even
after deletion there is a gap in one’s timeline, causing others to question what has been
deleted. There is no way of keeping secrets or having personal and private aspects within
your life, without having to explain why what you have removed had to be kept private.
The society that has been created is a surveillance society; at every moment of the day people
are placed under surveillance and the method of surveillance in particular is significant as
technology has persuaded a person to choose to record everything that happens to them –
setting up the surveillance society with ease. I will be discussing this further in the following
section.
It is mentioned in Liam’s appraisal that they would like to view his redo’s, showing that
employers are able to see what he has been doing in his free time. This request suggests to the
audience further that none of Liam’s time is really his own. The man talking to him mentions
that he has to check there are no “major deletions” accentuating the fact that Liam would
have to explain any deletions that occur in his timeline. The fact that they are able to see his
life out of the workplace is a reflection of the protocol in this society as well, what an
employee does in their free time shouldn’t have to be checked by the employer – it highlights
the blurred boundaries of private and public life that has been caused by technology.
During the interview the number of cases that have been won by the company is shown in the
background of the frame:
The number of cases won throughout the year changes on the board behind Liam’s head
throughout the meeting; this use of imagery in the episode emphasises the extent of the
Figure 9: Number of cases changing in Liam's appraisal

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surveillance in this society, everything is constantly being observed, counted and archived.
Nothing just happens, the fact that this company strictly monitor something relatively small
as this shows the extent that other, more significant things are monitored.
Later in the episode Liam is going through airport security; the security guard is also able to
view his grain, seeing everything that has happened to him. This shows that the grain is used
as a method of control within the society; citizens are aware that their footage will be seen by
members of authority and as a result of this, will refrain from breaking the law or doing
anything seen as a taboo. If a passenger is unable to show the footage on their grain they are
unable to travel, therefore this indirectly stops people from committing crime due to the
volume of surveillance.
This creates a self-monitoring society in which citizens are guilty until proven innocent, this
idea relates back to the Panopticon prison structure that was previously mentioned. If people
are aware that they are being watched they will be weary of what they do, resulting in control
over citizens with little widespread surveillance needed because of the volume of surveillance
they conduct themselves in their everyday lives.
Figure 10: The Screen at Airport Security

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During the conversation about Hallam’s decision to go grainless someone mentions that it is
popular for prostitutes to live without the grain – this supports the idea that they are living in
a self-monitoring society as the people that are committing crimes are rejecting the grain.
There are no tickets, passports or boarding passes; this suggests the grain not only records the
lives of people but also works as their identification, holding all of their important
information. This shows that the society is technologically advanced and dependent on the
grain, once again this aspect of the episode is comparable to our society as there is now a
feature on Smartphones called the “Passbook,” the passbook allows users to put all of their
boarding passes on their phones and check in technologically as opposed to having to queue
in the airport waiting to check in, this is representative of the changes we are making as a
society and how we are becoming more technologically dependent, using devices to replace
simple activities in everyday life. In the episode however the Grain is much more advanced
and responsible for a lot more information.
In the image above we can see that the grain holds a lot of information about its user,
including occupation, family history, birth details and flight history. This image reinforces
the role of surveillance; the security guard can view all of Liam’s information, including the
entire history of his family at the click of a button. The guard can request and find any
information he pleases, because of the technology that is being used. Once again the fact that
people in this society choose to log their lives in this way and have all of their information
available so easily shows the role technology holds in this society and reinforces Blumler and
Katz’ (1974) ideas that the uses and gratifications of the technology overrule the privacy
issues they have.
This form of surveillance relates to social networking sites, although they are not used in a
formal situation such as security checks, they are forms of technology that allow people to
find further information about users – and the popularity of them encourages people to
publish their lives on them, making it easier for others to participate in surveillance of anyone
that publishes their lives online. This shares similarities with the grain as it is a popular
technological gadget that promotes surveillance and people are judged if they fail to conform
to it.
When Ffion and Liam get home from the dinner party the first thing that they do is sit down
and check their own child’s grain to see if anything had gone wrong while they had been

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gone and to make sure their babysitter had done a good job. Firstly the fact that they feel the
need to do this shows the change in relationships caused by the grain, they must think that
their babysitter is good at her job, but they still feel as though they have to double check; it
reinforces the idea that they are reliant on the technology, almost as if they are unaware
they’re even doing it anymore. The concept of trust has changed, people no longer rely on the
words and actions of others to prove anything as they are able to see what has actually
happened – the grain is providing evidence for everything.
This relates to Luedtke’s (2003) idea that forms of technology, particularly social media, are
so pervasive that they become an everyday part of users’ lives without them even realising
how dependent they are on their devices. The routine-like manner in which they enter their
house, make themselves comfortable and watch the re-do of the evening suggests to viewers
that this is something that they do often. The fact that their child has a grain shows the
absurdity of the society they are living in and further reinstates the reliance on technology as
babies are implanted with the grain from a young age – without being able to decide whether
they want to use the technology. It also relates back to the meeting and the discussion of
children suing their parents; especially as Liam expressed a doubt about whether he thought it
was morally right, yet he sees watching his own child’s footage back as okay – this signifies
the skewed and changing morals that Liam is experiencing.
When Liam gets into the car, about to drive whilst drunk the car is aware of his intoxication
and advises him not to drive; this accentuates the amount of his life that the grain surveills; it
seems to be aware of everything that the characters do, it is connected to their identity,
homes, and vehicles. This reinforces the idea that the grain is everywhere and is in control of
so many aspects of their lives – it’s taking decision making out of their hands, they are no
longer responsible for their own moral judgement.
He goes to Jonas’ house and demands he deletes all of the memories he has of Ffion; this is
significant in a number of ways. Firstly, although Jonas can delete the files from his grain, he
is still able to use his own human abilities to remember his past with Fi and this further
suggests that the characters have developed a lack of trust in their own human memories –
they are insignificant to them now. Secondly, Liam is acting as if it his right to come into
Jonas’ house uninvited and rifle through his personal memories, as opposed to it being
against Jonas’ human rights. This shows the breakdown in human interaction within the

26. 26
society as a result of the grain – these characters are expected to share their intimate
memories with everyone around them and failing to do so leads to conflict.
Even the name “the grain” is significant as it paints an image of something so small and un-
noticeable. However after watching the programme it becomes clear to viewers that it is in
fact, quite the opposite. Naming it ‘the grain’ gives this impression to buyers, insinuating that
it is a handy tool that aids you in your daily life, it is also named after a type of food – further
suggesting it is necessary and provides sustenance to a user’s life.
Liam and Ffion’s house (and the other houses we see) are practically made of glass, this
further reinforces the idea that their personal lives are on show as it is so easy to see into their
home and observe their private lives. This gives the impression that after showing so much of
their lives through the grain it has become normal for them to show themselves to the world.
The grain has many resemblances with ‘Smartphones;’ Smartphones are owned by many
people, including children - which relates back to the idea of children having the grain.
Mobile phones have advanced technologically and now the average person has access to the
internet at all times in the day. Because of this people are constantly involved in an ever
growing cyber world filled with apps and technologically based identities. These features of
the Smartphone correlate with the grain and suggest that technology in modern society has
similar affects as the grain.
Figure 11: Liam and Ffion's House

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Many theorists have studied the fascination surrounding mobile phones and their growing
functions. Turkle (2011) discusses the role of technology in our society and the growing
need for technology. She states that because we are constantly connected to our mobile
phones we feel as though we are part of society, however we are ultimately alone. This
dependency is growing in our society through the use of technology and social networking –
and this is represented in this episode of Black Mirror.
Social Media has changed society and social interactions, the advances in technology and
gadgets have become incredibly popular. The ways in which we communicate with one
another has completely changed and it is now possible to create and develop a relationship
from behind a screen. All conversations that happen through technological devices can be
manipulated and edited, conversations are no longer spontaneous - all of this change is only
possible because of technology.
One of the grain’s features is a “timeline;”
This image shows the layout of the grain from the user’s perspective; firstly the grain closely
resembles an eye showing that it is an extension of the user’s eyesight whilst giving
connotations of an eye watching users. The images on the side of the circle (iris) are the
memories of the character that are stored in the grain. These images are placed in the image
similarly to the scene selection screen of a DVD. This mix of the eye and the image of a
Figure 3: The Display Screen on the Grain

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DVD is powerful as it’s symbolic of what the grain is; it has turned the user’s life into a film.
They can select specific scenes and play, rewind and edit the footage themselves. It brings
together the two ideas that the characters’ sight has been adapted and their lives are being
monitored.
The timeline is essential in the organisation of the memories and because of it people are able
to locate specific moments with ease. The timeline feature is however also present on
Facebook; they both work for the same purpose. This enforces the idea that the grain is
symbolic of social media and technological advances in our current society.
The timeline is installed to make organising one’s life easier but also works to make
surveillance easier for other users – it makes it possible for Liam to find out the exact times
that Ffion has been unfaithful. It becomes an important feature of their arguments – firstly it
settles the dispute of whether she was with Jonas for a week or not, he searches his timeline
for the footage and is able to re-watch it with ease to check whether she was wrong.
The timeline is essential to Liam’s realisation of the affair;
Liam sees the image of her in their marital bed on Jonas’ grain, the painting is important as it
Figure 12: Footage from Jonas' Grain

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identifies that it is their bed so the act must have happened while they were together but the
timeline also aids Liam’s discovery as it gives an exact time of when it happened.
The timeline strengthens the idea that the grain turns one’s life into a film and collects
memories from their life as it makes the footage linear, it creates an easy method of finding
what a character wants to see. This relates back to the idea of scene selection and the
organisation of one’s memories in a filmic manor.
The timeline is also essential in finding memories from the past that they wish to play back,
throughout the episode Liam frequently plays back things she has previously said to prove to
her that she has lied before. By doing this he is ruining happy memories they once had,
something I will be discussing in more detail later in my analysis.
4.3 Identity
The idea of identity is important in this episode as the grain affects the characters’ identity in
many ways; firstly it acts as proof of their identity in situations such as airport security, it puts
them in danger of having their identity stolen and also allows them to edit and manipulate
what they see as themselves. They can choose what they keep and delete, given themselves a
collection of memories that reflect who they are as a person.
Hallam’s incident could result in identity fraud as this woman’s entire history has been stolen
from her – her identity has been ripped away from her. The reactions of the other characters
show how unpopular her decision is. Their facial expressions completely change and they
look at her as if she is crazed.

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The facial expressions of the man on the left show his shock at the thought that someone
would choose to go grainless; this reinforces my argument that these characters are living in a
society that sees this technology as the norm.
Colleen is a firm believer in the grain and its functions. Here she is looking at the Hallam
with complete confusion; she is completely baffled that someone can live without the grain
which further shows her dependency on it. She says to Hallam that “Half of the organic
memories we have are junk”
This is representative of the social control the grain holds, people believe that they’re basic
human qualities are inadequate and the technology is essential in trusting their memories.
This relates to what McLuhan (1974) has said about technology acting as an extension of the
self, the grain has improved their memories causing them to no longer be satisfied with their
regular human capabilities.
Having this power and followers that believe that this is true is good for those in power,
technology has the power to make people homogenous, without their organic memories and
thought processes that make them think differently about whether the grain is a good device
Figure 13: Liam and Paul at Dinner
Figure 14: Colleen at the Dinner Party

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to be using they are simply conforming to what they are told, ideologically it is not good to
be grainless. Throughout the episode it is made obvious that the people that are grainless are
seen as rebellious; it is mentioned that many “hookers go grainless” giving the impression
that those that live without the grain do so because they have something to hide. At the dinner
party one of the guests asks Hallam whether her decision is political – this further suggests
that critical thinkers will rebel against the mainstream and reject the grain because of its
features that put users under constant surveillance.
The episode only shows us a small proportion of citizens in this society, all of the characters
in the show are middle class, law abiding citizens that seem to effortlessly conform to
society. Hallam is portrayed as liberal and carefree; this attitude has connotations that she has
found a sense of freedom from being grainless. This further suggests that the grain is
beneficial for conforming people that don’t think critically – they are in the centre of society.
The Post-humanist view is relevant here as they argue that technology is a positive aspect of
our society that has transformed human qualities – technology is an extension of the self,
giving us abilities that we lacked before and improving the quality of human life. This relates
to ‘The Entire History of You’ as the grain has changed the human species as we know it, it
has allowed humans to record every aspect of their lives and rely on a piece of technology to
live their lives. Because of the grain there are no longer questions of whether memories are
accurate and humans are unable to forget the things they have done (unless they delete them.)
An academic with a post-humanist perspective would argue that the grain is a positive
advance in technology that enables humans further.
These characters constantly view themselves through other people’s eyes; they are always
subject to reviewing their lives and the scenarios that they have been part of. Therefore
everything that they have been part of is dwelled on, causing them to analyse their own
personalities and the way they conduct themselves, nothing that they do is ever forgotten and
even if it is deleted, the whole in their timeline is there forever, reminding them of what they
don’t want to see.
Also the fact that Hallam had her identity stolen shows the vulnerability of containing ones
whole life in a small piece of technology and her reaction to the trauma was to remove the
grain from her life – something that was significant in shaping her identity. This decision

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shows the affect that the technology had on her life and suggests that she realised the grain
had negatives effects that were subtle until it was removed.
4.4 Trust and Relationships
Throughout the episode we see many examples of awkward social encounters and conflict –
the entire episode centres around the breakdown of a relationship because a husband becomes
suspicious and the technology at hand is the catalyst for this. The characters are no longer
given moral responsibility; it is the grain that dictates what is morally right. The Entire
History of You reinforces Turkle’s (2011) ideas that technology is causing a breakdown in
relationships and resulting in change in human interaction; everything is mediated and edited
by technological devices.
While engaging in conversation the characters are playing back their memories to back up
their argument and prove the other person wrong. Whilst discussing her relationship with
Jonas, Liam shows Ffion the first time they had sex – he later says to her “that was a nice
night – used to be.” (Black Mirror, S1E3) They are re-watching a happy memory that they
once shared and it is being tainted by the ability to watch it again. Information that
presumably would have been shrugged off before is now able to be proven, furthering the
argument, causing Liam to become more paranoid about the role of Jonas in Ffion’s life and
ruining a memory that he once enjoyed. This shows the power of the grain and the
destruction it can cause; it also reinforces the fact that Ffion is under constant surveillance
from Liam, she can’t escape things that she said years before; everything she has done during
their relationship is logged for him to refer back to – and vice versa. In many ways this
stumps the growth of the relationship, they are constantly looking back to the past and
dwelling on things that have happened, it affects their relationships significantly and in the
end, ruins a functional relationship.
The grain has a large role in their conflict – it allows them to remember the bad things one
another have said and the bad times they have shared in great detail, making it harder for
them to move on from it and also being used to infuriate one another further during the
arguments they have.

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Later in the episode Liam and his wife are engaging in intercourse, the camera cuts to an
image of what they are doing; watching footage from the past of them having sex and laying
immobilised, staring into space. This image is shocking to see, they resemble zombies, giving
connotations that this technology is making them robotic, hollow people. The intimacy is
completely stripped away, they don’t look at each other, and she even has her back to him
away from the grain footage. The sexual pleasure is now mediated and they are no longer
concentrating on each other. This image shocks viewers and really enforces the idea that their
relationship is in trouble, all intimacy has gone. They share no emotions with each other that
resemble happiness throughout the episode and whilst engaging in an extremely intimate
physical act technology is mediating the situation. The grain is literally coming in between a
connection that they share. The fact that they are using it to mediate such a personal activity
shows the amount that they use it and the role it has in their lives.
Technology is designed to bring ease to people’s lives – to improve the user’s experience and
adapt their methods of doing everyday things. This scene is an example of technology doing
just this – the characters are using the grain to improve their sexual experience and bring ease
to the activity and in doing so are completely changing and warping what many people
identify as sexual intercourse.
Because of the delete feature characters are able to pick and choose what they do and don’t
remember, the couple are able to manipulate and edit things that have been said by their
Figure 15: Liam and Ffion engaging in intercourse

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partner in order to express their anger or prove their point. Ffion does this to Liam after he
says “Sometimes you’re a bitch.” She edits out the sometimes and replays him saying
“You’re a bitch.” Although this is a small alteration it changes what he has said to her and
also shows the power of the replay and deleting options, to some extent the past can be
manipulated in a person’s favour.
(Although the image quality is quite bad) Here we can see that Ffion is playing back this
incident where Liam has called her a bitch; this is a particularly powerful image as the grain
is literally coming between them in the image, reflecting the idea it is mediating their
relationship.
Liam’s reaction to this shows the want to manipulate ones identity through the playback, he
wants Ffion to erase the footage disliking the fact that it shows him in a negative light –
however he feels he is able to watch back months of footage about Ffion, trying to find
evidence that she has been unfaithful and believes that this is acceptable.
Due to the grain and the level of surveillance it allows, we see Liam obsessing over small
things that have happened at the dinner party. He asks Ffion to look at how she looks at him
and compare it to how she looks at Jonas.
Figure 16: Liam during an argument with Ffion

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This shows the level of surveillance that Liam is conducting; he is looking at every facial
expression Ffion has and analysing it obsessively. Without the grain Liam would not be able
to obsess so much over these small details – he would continue to be paranoid but lack the
evidence to support his fears. The grain allows him to obsess and it is these small details that
he is finding that build the entire suspicion that lead to him finding out the truth, resulting in
the breakdown of his life and his rejection of the grain.
Trust is an interesting concept within this society, as analytically it does not exist. Trust
works on the basis that a person will believe another’s word without needing or being able to
find proof to find out otherwise. Because of the functions of the grain, there is no longer a
reason that someone would not be able to prove themselves innocent, ergo, trust as a concept
no longer exists as there is no need for it. Anything that somebody does while they are fitted
with the grain will be recorded; therefore they can replay their experiences to prove their
innocence in these occurrences. If they refused to playback the footage or had deleted it, it
would be obvious to the person that had stopped trusting them that they were correct. Thus
meaning that trust has been destroyed by the grain – it is no longer valid in this society
because the surveillance properties of the grain work to eradicate the need for trust, every
action is placed in an archive, therefore anything is re-playable and believing someone’s
word is no longer valid/necessary.
LiamJonas
Figure 16: A comparison of Ffion looking Jonas and Liam

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Figure 16 Liam's Memory of Ffion Figure 17 Liam after the seperation
The programme culminates in the complete breakdown and seperation of Liam’s relationship,
it is after this that we see the worst aspect of the grain – he is still able to watch old memories
from his happy marriage, seeing his wife and child around the house that is now dark and
empty. The footage at the end of the episode is particularly hard-hitting as the changes
between the past and present are so vast and it really highlights the pain Liam is going
through. These images show the breakdown of his life as he knew it as he looks back through
times when he was in a happy marriage. It also shows that Liam is still abusing the grain to
obsess over the past.
The final scene shows the extent to which technology has affected Liam’s life as he decides
to remove the grain from his head. This is a powerful image that reflects the idea that the
grain has negatively affected his life and he is so desperate to rid himself of it that he is
willing to conduct a dangerous operation on himself to remove it.

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5. Conclusion
This episode represents negative aspects of surveillance societies; it is a dystopian
representation of an assumed Utopia. The dark imagery and abrupt, sinister ending show a
varying perspective of technology in fictional television – a media platform in which
technological advances tend to be celebrated. In this case, however, Black Mirror focuses on
the negative and potential harm that could arise from a technologically driven society.
It centres around the breakdown of privacy in many aspects of their lives and suggests that
the cause of this is the major increase in surveillance. Overall the episode shows that Liam
abused the technology and became obsessed with it, emphasising this idea by showing other
characters that use the grain differently. This suggests that Liam became too dependent on the
grain and it led to his whole life changing for the worst.
The Entire History of You suggests this after displaying the destruction the grain has caused
in Liam’s life. It rejects the ideas of technological determinists by suggesting that the role of
technology in society is in the user’s control and the popularity of devices is socially driven
Technology has the power to invade privacy and place users under constant surveillance if
used often enough; society is becoming increasingly dependent on technology and it has a
growing role in our everyday lives, surveillance has been present in society through CCTV
for decades but the emergence of technology is bringing that surveillance into our personal
lives, this could lead to a breakdown in privacy if it is taken advantage of. Ultimately the
power is in our hands and it is the decision of users’ to control the power technology has on
their lives.
Technology will continue to advance far into the future, changing methods of communication
and surveillance throughout society. Although it has a profound effect on culture, user’s
control the extent to which they indulge in technology, leaving the power in their hands.
.

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