Social Media and Dystopia.

Want to ask around for ideas on how Social Media can (and likely has been) used towards Dystopian ends. As I'm considering a Setting Update to works like Nineteen Eighty-Four that incorporates the internet and its advancement into it and updates Orwell's themes to accommodate for the tech monopoly and data harvesting schemes.

Edited by MorningStar1337 on Jul 16th 2023 at 11:11:09 AM

One obvious answer is that it's used to identify dissidents. Another is that it's a common ground for disinformation and thus easily feeds narratives. It's difficult to overstate the sheer power of firehosing disinformation in a digital interconnected world.

that all seems very surface level TBH. I'm also looking into more low-key aspects.

Encourage the citizens to connect everything they own to one Social Media account. Think of it as a Single Sign-On. All your purchases, your work, your entertainment, and your communications are connected by and used through this one account. All you need to do is remember one single password and you've got everything.

And the government can yank it all away from you with the stroke of a key. Suddenly you have no job, no money, no contacts. You can't even prove who you are anymore and you can't buy or sell anything without an e-commerce account. You can't even drive to a friends house because you can't access your car. You can't enter your home because your security system doesn't recognize you. You can't take the bus because you can't pay the faire. If the police spot you you'll be arrested as a vagrant. The government, meanwhile, can mess with your social media account any way they want. They could say you took a job in a far away city or fake a recanting of every belief you've ever hand. It could be months or years before anybody realizes you're gone.

Now that is devious.

Edited by MorningStar1337 on Jul 16th 2023 at 8:00:57 AM

Honestly that's not that far off what China's trying with their Sesame Credit scheme.

It honestly depends on how up opaque you make the scheme, though either options can be equally dystopian

Yeah it's kinda depressing how many of these functions already exist in one form or another.

To contribute to my own discussion how's this scenario.

A rando gets it in his head to do something about the torrid state of affairs. He's initially ignored but soon evolves into a pest for the ruling regime and they decide to remove him from the cold equation.

So they enact their usual protocols. His one-size fits all social media is deleted, along with everything thing connected to his. He is now a nobody. His family and friends don't recognize him, he got fired since his employers can't confirm his existence, he is effectively homeless and stateless and the police will apprehend him as an illegal immigrant.

Already grim stuff huh, but wait there's more! Now that he is cut off from society, the regime are given free reign to "disappear" him directly or manipulate him a la O'Brien, luring him to them in a vainglorious Hope Spot before capturing him and sending him to Room 101 or a death camp and there is nothing the poor scmuck can do about since they erased his account, the only legal proof of identity in this regime.

Bumping to ask about how loneliness can be exploited to brinyg about dystopic conditions. As it seems like social media had an ironically profound effect on the quantity of lonely people on Earth. On top of the whole "divide and conquer" aspect as showcased in works like 1984.

Edited by MorningStar1337 on Jul 23rd 2023 at 12:35:37 PM