The internet has provided a plethora of benefits ranging from entertainment to platforms that connect people all around the world. However, due to these innovations, many are continuously glued to their devices and fail to look up and realize what they’re truly missing out on. This issue has rooted itself into the millennial generation and is now trickling into children of new generations. As Angel Boligan illustrated in his “Let’s Play” cartoon, children are trapped in their own realities and too busy to appreciate the world. In addition, the Black Mirror episode, “Playtest” communicates how this problem follows them into adulthood. Both artifacts suggest the growing concern of heavy internet dependency, in the Black Mirror episode, the internet serves as a distraction from problems and in Boligan’s cartoon, internet dependency has already rooted itself at early ages.
Angel Boligan, currently considered one of the greatest cartoonists with 137 international awards, created “Let’s Play” in efforts to bring into the spotlight the sad and surreal reality children face today. “Let’s Play” was presented in Boligan’s exhibits and now circulates through My Modern Met, an online hub that promotes creativity by spotlighting work from countless artists. Boligan centers the piece around a seemingly lonely individual that is dressed for a soccer game. Although the individual seems properly prepared for an exciting day at the park, the individual is the most out of place. The people surrounding the main subject are all on their smartphone devices, which points out how the internet is slowly taking away some of life’s simplest joys. Too often, people are attached to their smartphones for its easy accessibility to the internet causing people to be much more susceptible in missing out on their current experience and their surroundings. It’s estimated that kids and teens between the ages of 8 to 28 spend about 44.5 hours each week in front of digital screens. Furthermore, the use of color in Boligan’s piece is also interesting. For one, the only outfit that has color is the soccer player. This showcases how the soccer player is society’s last hope in embracing life’s beauties as it may be too late to help the others who are trapped. Moreover, the background has color, but not bright or sunny like a day in a park should be. The colors are dulled down: the sky is dark blue rather than the standard sky-blue and the grass and trees are more gray than green. This can symbolize the decreasing appreciation of parks but can also be broaden to the lack of interest towards nature. When the soccer player entered the park, the player experienced nature’s true beauty: a bright blue sky and healthy green trees. However, since the individual’s intentions were to escape from a world of technology, the people on the park benches with their faces glued to their smartphones, presents the depressing reality in how the internet is taking over the world. After coming to that realization, the individual’s perception of life is dulled down; nature is no longer bright skies and green grass. Gradually, this soccer player will be like the others, lifeless and seated at the park benches. At some point, the kids on the bench were in the same situation this soccer player is currently in. This directly addresses the current zeitgeist as parks have become more obsolete. As parks like Central Park and the High Line maintain their mainstream popularity, many local parks have become less and less populated. Many teens and children seek other forms of entertainment, like attending movies, eating at a restaurant and documenting it on social media, or simply staying at home to play video games or to access Hulu or Netflix. The objective of video games like FIFA, NBA 2K, or other franchise sports games is to level up your character and to do so, players must play the sport online. Although, these games are fun, it takes away from the actual sport. As people are busy building an amazing athlete online, many don’t see themselves performing the same way as their character in the game does. Most people stay in their own internet bubble and disassociate themselves with the outside world. This is evident as the Bureau of Labor and Statistics found that participating in sports, exercise, recreation only made up 6% of what Americans do during their leisure time. On one hand, the internet has connected people across the world, but on another hand, the internet has disconnected many from real experiences.
This disconnect continues its way into adulthood, which is communicated in the Black Mirror episode, “Playtest.” Cooper Redfield is travelling the world after his father’s death and eventually ends up in Britain where he doesn’t have any money left. Cooper seeks to playtest a new game since he needs the money to get back home. The game turns out to be highly innovative and experimental as it augments reality. The game claims to be adaptive and tailored to the fears of the individual playing. After playtesting, Cooper books a plane home to see his mother, but it turns out he never really left the game. His phone rings in the playtest room, interfering with the game’s signal, which kills him. One scene that stood out was the travelling montage in the beginning of the episode, which showcased a bunch of pictures ranging from selfies to food pictures. And once the montage is over, the camera focuses on Cooper’s phone rather than his face or the scenery around him. Everything around him is first blurred out and the phone takes up about 50% of the screen. After he takes a selfie, Cooper loses his smile and his facial expressions make it seem like he simply doesn’t care about the place anymore. This also addresses the current social zeitgeist as many post pictures on social media to show off how great their food looks or how fun their vacation was. Rather than living in the moment and enjoying it, people’s enjoyment level correlates with what others are saying about their experiences.
Another scene that stood out was when Cooper was in the simulation, where he was placed in a haunted house. As he was getting comfortable in his armchair, he takes a sip of his drink and not even five seconds pass before he tries to reach into his pocket for his phone. However, his phone was taken away before the simulation started. Then he proceeds to ask if there’s a television, which he is then reminded that this haunted house is set in the 1900s. And finally, he realizes there’s a piece of literature right where he placed his drink. All these interactions coincide with the current social zeitgeist. Firstly, it is not uncommon for many to reach for their phone, whether they are bored, waiting in line, or trying to avoid an awkward situation. It is estimated that 50 to 60% of people are addicted to their phones. Smartphones have given people an escape from their reality and has provided a new realm where entertainment is plentiful and missing out is not an option. As for Cooper, he tries his best to find any sort of electronic distraction from the horrors of boredom and the game. When he realizes there’s nothing left, he reaches for a book, which was beside him the entire time. When opening the book, “The Raven” is in bold letters, which is a reference to Edgar Allen Poe, a canonical writer, but even a good poem doesn’t hold Cooper’s attention. The scene is quite symbolic as it highlights a cliché: reading by the fireplace. As the fire crackles in the background Cooper continues to seem uninterested, which illustrates that even in the most stereotypical and best setting for reading a book, he wishes there was another source of entertainment. This depressing scenario applies to current generations as one of life’s simplest pleasures is picking up a book, but books are somewhat viewed as objects of the past. Cooper also expresses his relationship with books, “Oh my God, I can’t remember the actual last time I read a book,” which is a common thought for many people as other entertainment outlets dominate. Not to take away from eBooks and audio books, but many avid readers feel those are quite different from reading a physical book. For one, without internet access and an electronic device, eBooks and audio books cannot be downloaded or read. Without the internet, many forms of entertainment would not be made possible and like Cooper, the general population would be lost and bored.
During the time he was trying to go back home, Cooper was still in the game, but couldn’t tell. This brings to light an underlying metaphor as people are unable to tell apart from what’s real and what’s fake. Both the children in Boligan’s piece and Cooper Redfield in “Playtest” were trapped in their own realities and couldn’t escape because they didn’t know how to. The children are too busy keeping up with fake or augmented experiences that their friends or celebrities post rather than looking up and seeing the world for its true value. In addition, these children lose their sense of self-discovery as being trapped in this reality, enables children to take on a different identity. Their persona on the internet may be outgoing, fun, sociable, but as soon as that same person gets off the internet, they are the complete opposite. These alter egos are quite common since the internet can provide a world where people can be worry free and their insecurities can easily be hidden. Same goes for Cooper as he was busy running away from his real problems and falsely presenting his vacation as enjoyable. He showcases his fun and outgoing side on the internet, but deep down he’s distracting himself from the overwhelming grief rooted in mourning the death of his father. This is communicated through Cooper constantly rejecting his mother’s phone calls. As he puts up a fake image of how happy he is, his mother grieves by herself and wishes to speak to anyone, particularly her son. Rather than putting acknowledging the problem, Cooper prefers to be perfect in the eyes of social media. Avoiding his problems is similarly evident in the children of the new generations through Boligan’s depiction. Instead of reaching out for help or talking to his mother, he wants to keep his perfect image on the internet. As this is a small example of being trapped in an alternative reality, Cooper being trapped in the simulation adds to the underlying metaphor. The simulation displays how the internet slowly creates a detachment from one’s true self. Thus, in a sense, it represents how the continuation of people feeding their internet personas can result in not only the loss of their true selves but in the loss of life. This is highlighted by his death in the end which represents how this habit leads to death of the actual self. And as an adult, he still couldn’t tell apart from what was real or fake until he finally died.
Often, people find themselves addicted to the internet and are unable to escape it. As communicated in “Let’s Play,” Angel Boligan brings to light how children are trapped in their own realities and are disconnected from what’s truly real. While the Black Mirror episode, “Playtest” showcases the effects of this disconnect leading into adulthood. As children are handed devices at an early age, they have already begun disconnecting from reality and getting addicted to the internet. Addressing the problem at its root would be most effective in solving it, but if this problem goes ignored, will society be able to tell what is real or not in the future?