Pros And Cons Of Technology In Fahrenheit 451

Improved Essays
In a society that outlaws books, you’d assume every citizen would want to rebel against this rule. However, most people in Ray Bradbury’s fictional society in the novel Fahrenheit 451 blindfully accept this and follow to the government’s orders. This is slightly similar to our society in the positive ways of how we challenge those that don’t want us to form our own thoughts, as well in the ways that technology has unfortunately glued us to our phones. However, there are some differences between the two that prove our society is nowhere near a dystopia. In modern society, we have the freedom to find limitless information, as well as the ability to establish communications through technology that Fahrenheit 451 doesn’t.
As a novel written in
…show more content…
In Fahrenheit 451, Mildred was so addicted to technology that she overdosed on drugs. The morning after the overdose, Montag tells Mildred, “Maybe you took two pills and forgot and took two more, and forgot again and took two more, and were so dopy you kept right on until you had thirty or forty of them in you” (17). Mildred’s entertainment obsession brainwashed her to the point of emptiness and carelessness. It was already proven earlier in the novel that Mildred’s life had been taken over by technology, so it’s likely that she wasn’t paying attention to what she was doing with her own life because she was too wrapped up in the lives of her “parlor family”. It’s clear that our society is very similar to this, especially among teenagers. Teachers have to consistently tell students to put their phones away when they’re on it in class, and some students ignore them and continue to sneak it behind a binder or in their lap. Our society can’t even go a mere hour without checking their phones because people have gotten so attached to them. Furthermore, some people in our world have even killed themselves because of technology. According to Fox News, a 13-year-old boy jumped to his death from a tall building after playing online multiplayer game for 36 hours straight, leaving behind a suicide note that said he wanted “to join the heroes of the game he worshiped” (“Chinese ‘Warcraft’ Game Distributor Sued Over Teen’s Suicide.” Fox News. Fox News Network, 12 May 2006. Web. 18 Aug. 2016). Like people in Fahrenheit 451, this kid was borderline obsessed with something on a screen. He established a human-like relationship with the “heroes” of a video

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Television has destroyed, and continues to desolate the desire to read. Throughout history television has replaced the leisure of reading with its mind-numbing tendencies. In Ray Bradbury’s 1953 novel, Fahrenheit 451, he predicts that television and other technologies will completely replace books. In many aspects Bradbury’s prediction is becoming a reality, humans have replaced the great literatures of the world with trivial video games, and the paperback book has become obsolete with the new technology of the electronic book. The sole purpose of Bradbury’s novel was to explain that television is poisonous, and only contains “factoids”.…

    • 700 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    She states, “By the time they hit 4 or 5, they want a cell phone.” (Kadaba 4) Children demand nifty gadgets at younger ages, and it is this proliferating demand that Bradbury suggests as the precursor to the society in Fahrenheit 451; a warning of where today’s society may be headed. I both works, it is evident how technology can take over the usual norms in the blink of an eye. In Fahrenheit 451, preference for technology over educational books has turned into a desperate need. As a result, everyone is inside their homes all day stuck to their TV’s or gadgets, like bugs stuck in a spider web.…

    • 1235 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury the author shows a future world that is very similar to ours. They use technology to replace their relationships is one way his book is similar to our world. Another way is they have earbuds that produce music and they use them to communicate. Finally, they use technology for to get what they want, instead of for good. The similarities between our world and the books world would be with it being that people don’t talk face to face anymore because of technology.…

    • 573 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Back to the Future II and the Jetsons,they both predicted some part of the future. The Jetson movie predicted robotic vacuum cleaners. Back to the Future II predicted big flat screen televisions, and video calling. In the novel, Fahrenheit 451, the author Ray Bradbury creates a dystopian society where the protagonist Montag realizes that society is obsessed with technology and he wants to change it.…

    • 817 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    (TS): Technology is dangerous because someone can get so involved in it that eventually technology will become that person's entire life, this is the major message that Ray Bradbury is stating throughout the story. (MIP-1) Technology is everywhere and the characters in the book live and survive on technology. (MIP-2) People become so involved in technology that they become inhuman. (MIP-3) People who step away from technology gain real emotions and memories. (AGG) In Fahrenheit 451 there are many types of technology that are used everyday such as tv’s, earbuds, long billboards and mechanical hounds.…

    • 1019 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Technology has shaped today’s world and form many distractions. People, so focused in the own lives that they hardly get the chance to see how much better life could be. Throughout the book Fahrenheit 451, there are many examples of people allowing themselves to believe in a false happiness. In a society where reading and curiosity has long been replaced with robotic entertainment, the some characters begin to question everything while others slowly drown. Bradbury reveals the theme where the power of technology and fear has created a distorted happiness and outside help is needed to see the truth.…

    • 811 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This story shows just how powerful technology can be. Though today’s world hasn’t reached the extreme of the world in Fahrenheit 451, there are many similarities between the societies. Technology has become so psychologically powerful that machines are replacing people, censorship is an extreme part of the government, and…

    • 1105 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Technology keeps people busy and preoccupied from the occurrences around them. The society Bradbury creates in Fahrenheit 451 follows the Triple D proposal: Distraction, Dehumanization, Despotism. The abundance and excessive prominence of technology, particularly…

    • 1073 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    First, Captain Beatty misquotes the Constitution of the Unites States stating “We must all be alike…not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal” (Brown). Beatty is actually quoting the Declaration of Independence not the Constitution. Bradbury emphasizes “the power of language and the tyranny of its miss use, censorship, or absence” (Brown). The second point illustrated by Captain Beatty was that the government did not organize censorship but various minority groups who did not want material they found offensive published. Captain Beatty states “technology, mass exploitation, and minority pressure carried the trick, thank God.…

    • 1796 Words
    • 8 Pages
    • 8 Works Cited
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Fahrenheit 451 accurately reflects trends in present-day society because of the use and abuse of technology,…

    • 842 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The author’s purpose is to discuss the issue of technology and alienation of Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 , and Political Correctness in Fahrenheit 451. Bradbury’s main idea was to emphasize on how the people let technology and Television traumatize their brain. The author provides a strong example when he states in paragraph 14 of the article “In Fahrenheit 451 the government uses television to indoctrinate the people”, Bradbury envisioned television as an opiate. In the book, Bradbury refers to televisions as walls and its actors as a family fan refers to the characters by first name, as if they were relatives or friends.” Consumers allow the television to control their brain banning themselves from the use of books creating this controversy that makes it look like the government is demanding them to stop the use of books when in reality they allowed themselves to become alienated to technology.…

    • 1180 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When a mention of the future is made, one might be enthralled over the plethora of groundbreaking technology which could exist by then, but to author Ray Bradbury, this is no source of excitement. In his novel, Fahrenheit 451, he sees past the benefits which technology brings forth and exposes its drawbacks. He notes how people have become addicted and overly reliant on technology, turning away from reading books which, in turn, cultivated their critical thought and individualism. Such a vision is undoubtedly astonishing; in looking at the developed societies of today, the effects of technology on the populaces so uncannily resemble those described by Bradbury in Fahrenheit 451, showing that the future which he so desperately tried to prevent…

    • 1157 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Corrupt Technology In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, technology derives the society from reality. Imagine a society where people care more about their technology than their own families. A Mother who cares more for her television than her own son or daughter. There are kids who kill each other and play violent games due to the propaganda of technology.…

    • 1196 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, he explains the dangers of technology and how it keeps people happy. No one knows each other, therefore mo one can cause any distress. The ones that are different, and cause an uprising are killed, such as Clarisse, since they make the citizens feel an uneasiness, and feel unhappy. Books are unacceptable since they can bring conflict, and are incinerated with fire along with where the books were found. Technology is dangerous when it is overly consumed because it takes away conversing with the outside world, causing people in society to depend on technology.…

    • 595 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    People today do not have that strong of a connection to their technology. Although this may be true, it is not completely accurate. There are several people who are considered too engaged in the tv and/or their phones. According to “Current Issues: Online Social Networking,” some mental health professionals say that tens of millions of people worldwide are addicted.” Although technology has not fully taken over, the world is definitely becoming more and more consumed by technology…

    • 1152 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays