LITTLE BLACK BOX

It’s a square. A simple black square with strange black blocks shoved inside of it, like Tetris. Like something out of a video game, it looks more 80’s than it does futuristic, yet we use them every day.

8-bit graphics, crudely pieced together in odd patterns. If you look hard enough, your mind may play tricks on you, saying that what you’re seeing is a face or some kind of picture.

There’s nothing there, just lines, blocks and dots of varying thickness.

I want to fill out a survey, scan for the link. Want to order food? Scan for the app.

I’m creating one for myself. It’s now easier to promote my own books that way. I’m typing into Google, “FREE QR CODE GENERATOR.” A list of payable and free sites appears, as simple as typing your name. A few clicks later, copying the link you want to be turned into a QR code, the design, colour, and you can simply download it and save it to your photo roll.

I’m currently in the process of designing bookmarks for my new children’s book, a physical way to promote my work. As easy as colouring a sheet, I have placed my book cover and newly saved QR code onto a page, ready to print, ready to hand them around so that the public can scan.

It wasn’t that long ago that you couldn’t grab your phone from your pocket, select camera, hover the device over and it will automatically take you to the site. In a matter of seconds, a stranger could have scanned my code, which brings them to Amazon, to buy one of my books. In no time, at all that money will be sent to my bank account.

A strange little square has changed the way we live our lives. I see them on TV, ‘Scan for recipes’ or on adverts, ‘Scan to buy this product’. In a few short steps, the QR code has brought you to their link.

Less than ten years ago, seeing these block patterns would seem alien. Some designs even resemble characters from Space Invaders. In 2026, we think nothing of it. See a small square motif in the corner of the dining table when you’re out for a meal, scan to order on the restaurant app. See a piece of paper saying ‘Scan here to complete the survey’snap your camera out.

From dining, to doctors, television channels asking for donations to their charities, you can’t escape these weird little blocky things. See a QR code on the internet, on your phone as you’re scrolling through the news? No worries, simply screenshot the code as a picture and with no messing or worrying, the phone automatically knows a link has been made. One tap of your finger or thumb and their link appears like magic.

It’s an insane thing to think about, that anyone on this planet, if they so wish, can create their own personal QR code to do as they wish. I’m scrolling on Facebook; an advert pops up on my feed telling me that there are now companies that create codes for gravestones. They advertise them as a normal thing and in someways, that is what they are becoming. Grab your photo, swipe for your camera and hover. They tell you information about the person that’s died linked from their personal website. An obituary, seen before in a book people physically wrote inside, now readily available to use at whatever time of the day.

The QR code will either go one of two ways as every technological advancements does. Since Covid especially, I have noticed the rise of them and for many of the population they’re now second nature. They will either advance so much that a life without them would be unthinkable, like the internet or mobile phones, or fade along with the other failures.

For now, however, in 2026, it seems the QR Code is here to stay, creeping into everyday moments in our lives, such as watching television, paying for drinks and food, giving to charity or filling out surveys. From its space age looking appearance, to how quickly we can scan on our phones, QR codes, for me, feels like I’m living in the future.