Technology hinders people's face to face interactions. We see this in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and in our society, shown in phys.org’s article. The people in Fahrenheit 45, especially seen with Mildred, do not interact with each other and would rather immerse themselves in technology. “Will you turn the parlor off? he asked.
Technology makes people be aggressive or isolate themselves. Technology makes people aggressive, and it leads to doing bad things. While Montag was talking to Beatty he was saying how they never burn the right things. In Fahrenheit 451 Montag says, “We never burned right…”
Christin Louse lange once wrote the quote, “Technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master” Technology was an important part in the book Fahrenheit 451. The book is about a world where all books are banned and they burn any books they can find. Guy Montag is a fireman who burns books. One day on his way home from work he meets a girl who likes to ask questions. This girl opens his mind and he starts to think about the way their country works.
In this dystopian society, people burn books for the fun of it and think nothing of what it is doing to them. This is where we start in this world, with Guy Montag a seemingly ordinary man with a seemingly ordinary job, or is it? He is a fireman, but not a normal one in this world they rush to people's home not to help them, but to burn their homes down for having in their possession the one banned item: books. This leads to my thesis today: in the novel Fahrenheit 451 author Ray Bradbury writes about the idea that the government is controlling this group of people using technology and false knowledge, this becomes clear to the reader when they burn books to get rid of free thought and free will.
According to a 2021 report by Datareportal, there are over 4.9 billion active internet users worldwide, about 63% of the global population. (Datareportal) This shows how significant the impact that technology has had on mass media and communication is, as people can now access and share information more easily and quickly than ever before. “Fahrenheit 451” is a novel by an author named Ray Bradbury, Guy Montag the main character is a fireman who instead of putting out fires makes fires and burns books in their futuristic world. It tells a story about how he went from a book-burning fireman to a book-reading guy.
Within Ray Bradbury's novel Fahrenheit 451, there are many ways to view the world. Imagine a place where technology has taken over society. The location is based on technology and robots that control everything. The word robot has a deeper meaning and came from the Czech word “robota”, meaning forced labor or work. Fahrenheit 451 is similar since they base their lives around a virtual family and burning books.
The society that Montag lives in is corrupted by technology, it impacts their cognitive and mental state. Mildred, his wife, is ignorant about situations and supresses reality she overdoses on sleeping pills, and does not come to realize it. Everyday she watches television and pretends she is in a play, refuses to spent time with Montag she rather watch tv and all she talks about is having another tv set up in their home. She refuses to have a baby because they bore her, and calls the tv her family. Mildred claims she is proud of her life although she’s lonely in her empty house when Montag is at work, she’s surrounded by her own thoughts.
Social platforms are the masks of today’s society, therefore, individuals are becoming more complacent to their feelings and relationships they have with others. Having social media at our fingertips via cell phones allows a mask of false happiness. Adolescents use the social platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to hide what they really feel. In the book, Fahrenheit 451 written by Ray Bradbury gave us insight on a society that shies away from uniqueness and deep thought. Today the American culture is too afraid to step out of their comfort zone and really accept what life has to offer.
Q1. Fahrenheit 451 was written in 1953. What are its technology prediction and how accurate are they over fifty years later? A1. The predictions from Fahrenheit 451 are pretty accurate to today’s world.
A quote from Ray Bradbury in Fahrenheit 451, (Character: Captain Beatty), Page 58, “Cram them full of non-combustible data, chock them so full of ‘facts’ they feel stuffed, but absolutely ‘brilliant’ with information. Then they’ll feel they’re thinking, they’ll get a sense of motion without moving. And they’ll be happy because facts of that sort don’t change. Don’t give them any slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy.”
The Alienation Of Technology In Fahrenheit 451 As social philosopher once said “The real problem is not weather the machine thinks but weather men do” (B.F. Skinner) this simple but meaningful quote plays a tremendous role in our modernized world where all we do involves technology, which has slowly made humans as a race progressively more lazy. This directly correlates to Montags dystopian society that without the luxuries of self thought and books. Montag, a fireman, who instead of extinguishing fires, but burns books to expunge the chance of having a citizen read them and see their true elegance. He does not do this because he wants to but because the government and the social norms have adulterated him. As the novel goes on we watch as
“When someone truly cares about you, they give effort, not an excuse”~Zig Ziglar. Ray Bradbury's novel, Fahrenheit 451, has a theme of relationships decaying because of technology. The protagonist, montag and his wife mildred slowly grow apart throughout the book because of technology. As mildred becomes more and more obsessed with technology, motag strives to keep their relationship alive. Only to find that Mildred will not put forth the same amount of effort instead she gives excuses.
“Everything is generated through your own will power”, (Bradbury, brainyquote.com). I find that this quote means that everything is powered by yourself and your will to do it. If you can’t find the will to do it then you can’t power it. Ray Bradbury, a man who perceived the future differently than others. He published a book known as Fahrenheit 451 that set the world on fire.
The author of Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury, has been recorded saying “We bombard people with sensation. That substitutes for the thinking.” Although, it might at first look as though Bradbury is looking into the future, towards the end you are more clearly able to see that he is actually talking about present time. As this book was published in 1953, a lot of significant historical events had recently ended. The influence of new technology, the discrimination against many types of people, the banning of books, and just so many things happening at once overwhelms and gives the people a false sensation.
In today’s society, technology plays a very important role in its ability to function, it helps people find information, communicate with others far away and provides entertainment. In “Fahrenheit 451”, a book written by Ray Bradbury, a dystopian future where books have been made illegal is presented. In the article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr, raises many questions about technology and its effects on society. It’s quite evident that we have become quite dependent on technology due to our overconsumption of it.
