The advancement of technology has done a great deal of good for our culture, but as depicted in "White Bear" it can also do a great deal of harm. The culture that we have become assimilated to is one that is extremely dependent on the the development and reliability of technology and cell phones. As our culture develops we feel as if we have to record everything that happens in our lives from the people we hang out with to the food we eat. "White Bear" makes forces us to take a look at what our society can become, which is a compassionless, mindless, zombie like society where the only thing we are focus on is our phones and what is in that little screen. By taking a look at the way "White Bear" puts the rest of society behind a phone, one can see the direction that our society is heading in if we do not change the way we interact with each other and the world around us, this is important because if we become so isolated and controlled by the media than the situation in "White Bear" Can become our reality staring at society through a phone screen.

Most of the things we record on a day to day basis are harmless but, there are times where we make bad decisions and because of how social our society is with technology, those bad decisions can spread like wild fire and with the new found strength of the media this can prove to be a disastrous situation. One person that knows the power of the media all to well is Myra Hindley, Hindley was the one who stood behind the camera as her counterpart Ian Brady Murdered a child that the two of them abducted. They were both arrested and sentenced, Brady who is still alive today was the mastermind behind all of the murders they committed. But Handley became the the countries focus mainly because she was a women and the fact that allowed this to happen to an innocent child was very shocking to the general public at the time(Sims). The same goes with Victoria the reason she is being brutally tortured every day of her life is because she stood behind a camera a filmed while right before her eyes an innocent child's life was taken away from them. In addition to the references to the moors murdered there is a number of references to modern culture and how cell phones are beginning to take over the life of the middle class American. The way they convince Victoria that some pandemic has occurred is through the use of technology and a symbol that popped up on all of their screens and took control of their minds and all they did was video tape her, I feel this is a reference to the direction we as a society are heading, looking at everything through the cameras on the backs of our phones. 

The show is responding to the very popular belief that the more technology advances the easier life will become. This is very true in some cases for example in the field of medicine or in the automobile industry but, it is destroying the foundation of society which is communication and interaction. Yes, technology has made it easier to contact people around the world in a matter of seconds but, it is also used to communicate to a colleague whose office is just down the hall, or a friend sitting across the room. Technology is slowly but surely destroying our social skills and it does not seem to be changing anytime soon according to the American Academy of Pediatrics kids today spend on average seven hours a day using technology leading to attention problems and eventually poor social interaction skills (media and children). We think that we are advancing as a society but in reality we are starting to go backwards if something doesn't change soon than we will become the spectators in "White Bear" glued to our phones viewing the world from a 4-inch-wide screen. 

In the time since the episode of "White Bear" aired on television there has not been any tangible effects directly related to the show. However, there have been multiple different studies and developments that are related to technology and how things like mind control are starting to become realities. According to an article published by the Huffington Post, we are now able to use our brains to control things like toy helicopters and to play games on tablets without even touching the screen (Scott). Now I know this is a far cry from the mind control we see in "White Bear" but who's knows what this technology will be like in 10 plus years. One more development in science has been the ability to erase and restore the memory of rats. According to a study done at USCD in San Diego scientists were able to stimulate a group of nerves in the rat causing the rat to suffer from memory loss, surprisingly the scientists were then able to restore the rats' memory by re-stimulating the same nerves (USC San Diego). This means that the memory erasing device that we see in "White Bear" can soon be a reality. Although the research being done here is for Alzheimer who's to say it doesn't end up in the wrong hands or the governing bodies decide to use these developments for immoral tasks. So no there has not been any direct tangible effects from the production on "White Bear" but, there have been major developments in neurology related to controlling the brain. 

When "White Bear" was produced the general public could not believe the cruelty and torture that the main character Victoria endured every day of her life. The public only responded the way they did with the voice that they did because of the way the story was told. From the beginning we were by her side hoping that she would eventually find out who she was and what happened to the world that she knew. We were forced to sympathize with her, we though that she was the protagonist in the entire story, the only problem with thinking that way is that is exactly what the author, Charlie Brooker, wanted you to think. As the story comes to a close we feel as if the plot has not really progressed much she is no where near figuring out who she is until she attempts to shoot one of the people chasing her, once she pulls the trigger confetti comes out the barrel of the gun the back wall opens and Victoria, the character we grew to sympathize with is handcuffed into a chair and put on display in front of a crowed of people. We then learn that she kidnapped and filmed the abduction of a child and her punishment is to suffer through that same scenario everyday only to have her memory washed at the end of each day. This is where the critics had a problem with "White Bear" they felt as if the punishment was so morally wrong that they gave the episode poor reviews meanwhile it was fast pace kept you intrigued and had a terrific plot twist that no one was expecting, it had all of the making s of a good episode but because of the punishment a good review of the show would have felt morally wrong for some of the critics (Sims). As we look back at "White Bear" our views have changed we still see the punishment as wrong but understandable due to the crime she committed, she could have helped the little girl at anytime but instead she decided to stay behind her phone and watch, just like all of the people watching her suffer every day, they can help her but no, they just watch. 

The use and issues that we see in "White Bear" are issues that we see everyday of our lives. More and more people are becoming zombies to technology, staring at a screen all day long hardly every looking away or interacting with another person face to face. Additionally, people are hiding behind their phones, feeling as if they are safe behind them not realizing that even if they just recorded something that happened makes them apart of that event and could lead to an unfortunate circumstance like Myra Hindley and Victoria. Technology is great when used correctly but now people are abusing this amazing thing that we have and because of it an entire society will have to suffer unless regulations or changes are put in place. 

