Today, 'Black Mirrors' are everywhere, the reflective screen of a dormant smartphone, waiting with pressing messages that can find you anywhere. The computer screen, that still omits a faint but audible hum, reminding us of its presence even when it is not in use. The black television screen, that glares ominously with its single red eye while on standby, waiting, waiting for the inevitable; that it will be switched on again. As I sit in front of a switched off Apple Mac, I can look up and see myself as I am reflected back. I notice that my hair is askew. I fix it.

Television as a medium can work much like a mirror. Television as a medium is a social experience, as millions will all sit down to watch the same show together. As most people own televisions, it is also an immediate medium. Combined with the nature of the programs that are often aired, (dramas, reality television, news broadcasts) television creates a reality effect more easily than other moving image mediums. Both when the television is switched off and on is it reflecting reality. This reflection is literal when the television is off but the reflection in ‘Black Mirror’ is mediated and contains Brooker’s agenda and that is to make viewers aware of their technological dependence.

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