I’m a little late to the whole Black Mirror thing. Aaron has watched through all four series and has repeatedly told me that I should get onto it, but I’ve just not been in the right mood to start and work through a new sci-fi series. (For anyone equally behind the times, Black Mirror is a Netflix series.)

However, there was one episode in particular that Aaron, and a couple of other people, suggested I watch. It is called Arkangel. The Netflix description for this episode is:

Worried about her daughter’s safety, Marie signs up for a cutting-edge device that will monitor the girl’s whereabouts – and much more.

The device (called Arkangel), an implantable chip, allows Marie to see her three year old daughter, Sara’s, location and vitals – blood pressure, heart rate, cortisol levels etc. – in real time. But more than that, the chip allows Marie to actually see exactly what Sara is seeing – not to watch her child as if there were CCTV cameras everywhere, but to see the world precisely as her daughter is seeing the world. There are parental controls that allow Marie to change what her daughter sees, effectively, blocking out (by pixilating) anything not PG-rated. The device was completely controlled via an iPad-type device and would alert if Sara was in any distress.

Arkangel was sold as a way for parents to know that their children were safe at all times. And what could possibly be wrong with that? It’s what all parents want. Right?

About ten minutes into the episode, I looked over at Aaron. ‘This is making me really uncomfortable,’ I said to him. Watching Marie getting on with her life, with the Arkangel tablet device next to her for easy access to what her daughter is experiencing at that moment, made me feel very uneasy. Every single thing her little daughter saw was replicated on the tablet.

As the episode progressed, Sara got older and Marie continued to monitor her daughter’s every move. But by the time she gets to about ten years old, Sara starts to question her mother’s use of Arkangel. Sara has come to realise that the parental controls mean she had never seen, and therefore could not understand – a lot of things her friends were talking about. Marie decided it was time to put Arkangel away. The tablet was switched off and stored in the attic, and Marie and Sara got on with their lives.

Until Sara hit teenage-hood…!

One night, after discovering Sara lied about her whereabouts, Marie reactivated the Arkangel tablet to locate her daughter, and see what Sara was up to.

My neighbour, Jo, was one of the people who urged me to watch this episode. She knew that I would see what she had seen when she watched the episode. And I did, immediately recognising the parallels between sharing of CGM data and Arkangel. And the issue of consent, or rather, the absence of it.

At the Roche Diabetes MeetUp at ATTD this year, I  joined in a very robust conversation about the whole idea of sharing CGM data. There were adults with diabetes and parents of children with diabetes in the discussion, each with their own idea about the value of the technology.

A number of adults were appalled at the idea of sharing data, claiming it was simply a way for others to spy on them.

Personally, I am very apprehensive about sharing my data. Of course, this is a highly personal way to feel about the technology and there are other adults who absolutely love the idea that there is someone else keeping an eye on what’s going on with their glucose levels, and able to make sure they are okay if there is a problem. It makes them feel safer and more confident – and if that’s what people get from the technology, it’s only a good thing. But I am not sure just how comfortable I am at having someone see every high or low.

But we are adults – fully formed and grown and making decisions about ourselves and our diabetes, forourselves and our diabetes.

I also completely understand that as a tool, CGM sharing is one of, if not THE, most valuable and essential tool for parents to feel confident that their children with diabetes are safe at school, or other places, when they cannot be with their child. I know that CGMs with share capabilities have, in many cases, completely changed family dynamics for the better.

So when I question the technology and what it can do, I’m not in any way searching for answers about the value of the tech – that is indisputable in my mind. But I am questioning the issue of consent.

While it may make perfect sense for an infant in day care, or a primary school-aged child to have data share activated, what happens when the child starts high school. Or begins university? Or moves out of home? At what age does the idea of having the ability to remotely monitor someone’s CGM data become the decision of the person whose data it is?

I don’t think we have had these discussions, or thought through the long-term implications of CGM data sharing. And I worry that we still seem to not be having those conversations.

When the episode of Black Mirror ended, I felt unsettled. I actually noticed that my heart rate was elevated. I was rattled and had trouble sleeping that night, and I couldn’t help but see Arkangel as a cautionary tale.

Where are the conversations about consent? Where is the line in the sand when it comes to who makes the decision about data sharing? Obviously it will be different for every family, but where are the guidelines or conversation starters to equip people to make those decisions? If this is not being discussed at the time that children and adolescents are commencing CGM, why not?

These are not easy conversations to have – and, quite frankly, as an adult with diabetes, one diagnosed as an adult and not the parent of a child with diabetes, I am not sure that I am the right person to be even talking about it. Some might (and undoubtedly will) say that I should pull my head back in because I don’t understand the situation at all, and simply stop talk about it.

But someone does need to. And I think that it needs to start happening right now.