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Ray Bradbury's 'The Pedestrian'

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Technology is constantly evolving, and changing how we live our day to day life. The PEW Research Center found that 68% of adults have a smartphone, while 86% of people between the ages of 18 and 29 do. Technology evolves so fast that people don’t even realize that the smartphones most people have did not exist twenty years ago. Sometimes technology changes so fast people don’t realize the harm that can come from it. Every time technology advances the need for offline face to face interactions decrees. Instead of going to the movies people stay at home and watch TV. In Ray Bradbury’s story “The Pedestrian” Mr. Mead is simply walking and the automated police car can’t even compute why Mr.Mead is not watching television. This is the world he …show more content…

According to Cornell University's Steven Strogatzhe social media makes it more difficult to distinguish meaningful or important relationships in the real world verses the internet. People often spend more time with their not so meaningful relationships online instead of family or very close friends. This leads to more relationships, but not as many strong relationships. Ray Bradbury wrote a short story in 1950 that called the Veldt. This story was not about social media, but about children who cared more about their technology than their parents. The children in the story have a nursery room where what ever they imagine comes to life. One day their parents decide it is time to get rid of the room but the children don’t want to. They love the technology more than their parents so they wish for the technology to do something horrific. Bradbury writes, “Mr. Hadley looked… at the beats edging slowly forward…tails stiff / Mr. and Mrs. Hadley screamed. (“The Veldt”). Another side effect of social media is sharing to much information for the entire world to see. Anyone from a future employer to a criminal can see your information. Information such as where you live and where you work can put people or their loved ones in danger. Many people have their accounts on private, but Ali Kingston Mwila has something else to say, “Even with the tight security settings your personal information may leak on the social sites.” (linkedin.com). That is how social media via our smartphones can have a negative impact on our

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