Will masks ever be a thing of the past?
If there’s anything that 2020 has taught us, it’s that our world can change in a matter of months, weeks, or even days. As humans living in a technologically advanced society, we feel invincible to conflicts of nature, such as the coronavirus. The pandemic forced us to change our outlook on the world; we looked forward and envisioned different realities based on the little information we had about the virus. We asked questions like:
- How do masks protect us?
- When is it safe to stop wearing masks?
- Is living a virtual life healthy or fulfilling?
- What are the dangers of social isolation?
- What constitutes a social experience?
These are all topics my team and I took into consideration as we envisioned and constructed a new world called “The Masked”. Before I explain the details of “The Masked”, I must also point out that the coronavirus wasn’t the only dilemma that occurred in 2020 — there was also a social one. Outlined perfectly in the Netflix film “The Social Dilemma”, large companies like Facebook and Google are using manipulative tactics to harvest personal data from users to increase profits. Social media algorithms have gotten so intricate that millions of users have become addicted, unknowingly selling their attention to media companies worth billions of dollars. What once started as a vessel to communicate with others and share stories, social media is now a marketplace for distorted ideas about the world, ourselves, and each other. This social media environment has challenged human nature and identity in many ways; are we really who we say we are online? Should our identity be based solely on our performance online? Should we be commodifying and monetizing our personalities? My team and I, being members of Gen-Z, have firsthand experience of the negative sides of social media and wanted to explore this deeper in our world of “The Masked”.
In “The Masked”, we envisioned that the rise of social media monopolies subsequently led to the tightening of surveillance. Facebook essentially owns the government and works to make money off of citizens' personal information; every action is tracked, recorded, and sold. Individuals are extremely aware of their social presence and feel the need to be constantly performing at their best state. This increase in data mining, machine learning, and artificial intelligence have gone too far, infringing on individual privacy. Thus, we have the rise of “The Mask”, the ultimate form of privacy, protection, image control, fashion, professionalism, and safety.
The Mask itself is a high-tech LED surface that covers the entire face and displays a series of widgets. These widgets aim to describe the person through numbers, codes, and ratings. We were influenced by the Black Mirror episode titled “Nosedive” which is set in a world where everyone is ranked out of five via a social networking system. The Mask would display a person’s rating — often determined by their social media clout — occupations, interests, personality type, and what communities they belong to. All widgets must be approved through the government, and some areas have access to more widgets than others.
The Masked is made up of four micro-kingdoms — The Grid, The Hometowns, The Rural, and The Urban — that each have their own opinion on mask-wearing. Each member of my team focused on a different micro kingdom, so I will summarize each of them.
“The Grid” is a highly divided area with clashing populations and disparities in resources and class. It holds some of the wealthiest people and is a center for high-tech entertainment attractions. Masks are worn by the wealthy as a status symbol, a way to social climb, and also for filtration from polluted air. Some Grid members cannot afford masks and are ostracized by the high-tech society.
In “The Hometowns” masks are made essential out of fear. It is a non-diverse area — representative of some suburbs in America today —and everyone living here has access to the resources required to wear masks. Personal values are displayed on the mask, along with their family, friends, education, and occupation. Their goal is to present their best selves and create structure and hierarchy from those presentations.
“The Rural” stands out as a counterculture to the other kingdoms and is considered a revival of human culture. They do not wear masks, as they believe the face is sacred and holds the power necessary for human connection and communication. They value human relationships, art, philosophy, nature, and emotions.
The micro kingdom I chose to focus on was “The Urban”. It is the most technologically advanced and heavily surveilled kingdom of them all. The culture values hyper-productivity and hyper-individualism. People wear masks in an effort to showcase their skills and talents in hopes of making the right connections for their careers. The mask is a basis for judgment, as everyone is constantly trying to boost themselves up the corporate ladder. Urban citizens also wear masks to protect themselves from hackers and the dark web. Technology has gotten so advanced that it is incredibly easy for someone's face to be edited onto anyone or anything to tell any story. Wearing masks helps to prevent false arrests based on deepfakes and incorrect facial recognition.
In urban areas, there is another piece of technology that complements the masks. It is called “InSpect”, a futuristic surveillance camera that gathers data taken from masks. I took inspiration from real products such as AI Guardman and IC Realtime when constructing this object and its motives. InSpect has an LED exterior that blends in with the walls, is fully wireless, and is charged through Wi-Fi, allowing it to hide seamlessly in most stores. It pulls information from masks within a 100 feet radius of the camera and stores it in the cloud. The data of the visitor, consisting of their rating, personality type, occupation, interests, wealth, and more, is then analyzed by the store owner to narrow and secure their target market and increase sales. InSpect has proven to be of great benefit to many store owners and corporations.
The idea of a mask extends much further than just a piece of cloth or technology. It represents what we’re willing to sacrifice for the good of ourselves and others. However, we must make sure we aren’t sacrificing too much for the benefit of too little. The world of The Masked might manifest if we continue to allow social media companies to capitalize off of manipulating their users.
This experience in worldbuilding raised more questions than answered them — which is arguably more productive. It put into perspective how much would really have to change for these ideas to become a reality. The path from our current ideals as a society to those of The Masked was illuminated and thus easier to change. The process of worldbuilding has never been more significant than today; we must be able to think critically about the world we live in and what future we are setting ourselves up for. We construct the world through the way we think; our values and ethics shape the order and layout of the physical world. As Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby state in their book Speculative Everything: “Ideals are not measured by whether they conform to reality; reality is judged by whether it lives up to ideals”.