Big Brother

North Korea. Currently with television sets hardwired to only broadcast one channel and the private lives of people widely monitored, one cannot find a better example of surveillance in the modern world (North). This signifies the fact that even though life in the 21st century is perceived as a moderately peaceful and free beginning for humanity, authoritative surveillance will still find a way into our private lives, evolving as humanity grows. Another important trait of authoritarianism is perpetual war. In 1984, Eurasia, Eastasia and Oceania are at constant war at each other, instilling fear and submissive attitudes from the general public, whilst supporting the government and justifying their actions.

The real question is should our school participate or not? Technology has been around since the 1860s. Technology has many effects in our environment and has helped develop more advanced economies in our society. The use of technology can enhance and deteriorate the lives of many people especially students. In my personal opinion, I think our school should participate in “ Shut your Screen Week” The reasons I think our school should participate include using technology such as cell phones during class can cause distraction, the use of too much technology can be overwhelming, Spending hours on a screen can lead to certain health issues such as poor eyesight, and by decreasing the amount of technology usage it

Technology has a major impact on society. With how integrated it is in the world today, it is hard to find something not affected by it. Everyday life is based around technology with cell phones, televisions, and cars being standard to most families in America. This makes some people think that it has a negative effect on society. In the book Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury presents his argument against technology by showing a corrupt society oversaturated with technology.

In Nicholas Carr’s article, “How Smartphones Hijack Our Minds” (November 10, 2017) Carr discusses the implications of allowing our smartphones to have such a huge effect on our lives. Smartphones serve many purposes, and have created massive societal effects throughout the world despite being introduced roughly only two decades ago. One can converse with anyone in the world at any given moment, they can watch any television show they want, and they can receive alerts so they no longer have to put effort into remembering things themselves. However, with so much control over people’s own lives, one begins to wonder about the negative consequences of the smartphones themselves. Carr brings up the question of how our minds can be negatively affected by this when he asks, “So what happens to our minds when we allow a single tool such dominion over our own perception and cognition?” While Carr is aware that the smartphone serves a countless number of useful purposes and tasks, he believes we should think deeper about the lesser known effects of our smartphones which people so easily allow to take over their lives.

Everyone in America today feels the need and wants to have the newest technological gadget made. It is very obvious that the people in the world strongly rely on technology to get through their everyday routines. People are forgetting how to accomplish tasks by hand because technology has taken over and it is becoming more common. Looking back at the television screen sizes, phone details, home appliances, and even vehicle quality 10 years ago, one can tell how advanced all technology is getting, soon we will end up just like Harrison and his family. In our future, it is likely that the government will go to those extremities with the handicaps and such to make sure everyone is equal in appearance, strength, and knowledge.

One clear example of the conflict of manipulation appears in George Orwell’s famous piece of literature, 1984. In the novel, although a few members of the society are rebellious to the Government’s controversial plans, many are unaware about their questionable rules. The government has complete control over everything in the society, and that is not even an exaggeration. One example of this type of manipulation appears numerous times in the beginning chapters of the book: “War is Peace, Freedom is slavery, Ignorance is strength.” (Orwell 4). This slogan was created by the government in the book, and although it is obvious that these statements are invalid in our modern world, the citizens would not know this because they are being manipulated constantly by their own authority.

ProCon facts have found that “57% people believe that gun control laws give too much power to the government and may result in government tyranny and the government taking away all guns from citizens”. They are those who believe that they have to protect themselves because no one else will do it. Many of whom lack the knowledge of the government and how much power they possess. They are unaware of the three branches of government that secures the rights of citizens. No one can ever gain complete control without the people having a say.

“BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU” (Orwell 161). This statement by Orwell shows that he wrote 1984 as a warning to today’s future as he feared that mass government surveillance and invasion of the privacy of a citizen would become the norm in the future. People have indicated today that Orwell was right to a certain extent as how governments today lead massive surveillance programs . Others have thought that today’s government invades its citizen’s privacy . Similarly, people have also mention how governments censors what it wants it citizen’s to hear.

U.S. culture is vastly different from other cultures around us. American countries are very materialistic compared to other countries, and we are often seen as a strange, yet powerful nation. What and how we use certain things shape how we are seen by other countries, and how we function as a nation, as a whole. Almost every American uses technology everyday, it is amazing how are nation has advanced over time. Our country functions through technology: texting, Google, Word, social media; this is what makes up our nation.

One way on how the power of language can manipulate society into believing in anything is by forcing every single person into speaking one language. The language that is spoken in 1984 is called Newspeak. Once World War Two came to an end the government of Oceania make a decision that they should put fear into every single one of their people's lives. They did this by putting a telescreen in everyone’s house and the government can spy on them by doing this. This causes the people to not say anything bad about the government aka the Party.