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. People in their society have TV walls that some call their family. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, and other sources all reinforce the message that technology helps society by connecting people, and technology harms society by distracting people from the real world. Both Fahrenheit 451 by Ray …show more content…
In the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Montage was trying to figure out who put in the alarm to burn down Montag's house. Montage then asked Mildred if his wife did it and she ignored him and said, “‘Poor family, poor family, oh everything is gone, everything, everything gone now…’” (Bradbury 114). Mildred was so distracted that all of her ‘family’ was gone when the wall was not real people. She didn't even realize that Montage was asking her a question because she was way too distracted about the TVs she was losing. This same message is also conveyed in the short story “Pedestrian” written by Ray Bradbury, Lenard Mead was outside taking a walk by himself, he was the only one on the streets because everyone else was in there houses, He would look in the windows and talk to the windows and whisper, "’What's up tonight on Channel 4, Channel 7, Channel 9? Where are the cowboys rushing, and do I see the United States Cavalry over the next hill to the rescue?’" (Bradbury 1). Lenard was the only one in society that was not always on the TV like the rest of the people in society. Lenard liked the outdoors and did not understand why people were so addicted to the TV, with him being outside and looking in to the windows and talking to ‘people’ through the window makes him feel like people are like him. Lenard and
Mildreds overuse even leads to the sad reality of her forgetting her past. Important events of her past, gone, Montag left to question her for hope she remembers. “When did we meet? And Where?" all Mildred can respond with is "I don't know" (Bradbury 40).
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…”
Both the novel’s world and our world today have become dependent on technology. In the novel technology has dehumanized people, it lead to people caring more about their ‘family’ on television than their actual family. “My ‘family’ is people. They tell me things; I laugh! They laugh:
Yo (very close up) So recently we read Fahrenheit 451 (show a picture of the book), a story about burning books. A constant question throughout the story is “why?” What does the government of Fahrenheit 451 get from burning books?
Technology impacts society and individual relationships by making it harder for people to communicate and have relationships by distracting people from having conversations with one another which leads to people losing relationships. This is seen in Fahrenheit 451 when Montag had finished his shift he came home to Mildred and noticed, “in her ears the little Seashells, the thimble radios tamped tight…” (Bradbury 10). The Seashells in Mildred’s ears distracted her from her husband and made it harder for Montag to talk to her which led to them becoming distant. Also, in the TED talk with Sherry Turkle, she says, “People text or do email during corporate board meetings.
In addition to having issues with mental health, the society in Fahrenheit 451 values physical things, such as money and the TV walls, and while they believe that these things make them happy, they do not. Characters like Mildred, prefer to detach themselves from society with a “family”, which happens to be giant flat-screen televisions that take over their walls. This society that Montag survives in only values objects they can show off to others and do not care about others' well being. Montag confronts Mildred about her addiction. He says, “‘Millie, does’- ‘does your ‘family’ love you, love you very much, love you with all its heart and soul, Millie?’- ‘Why’d you ask a silly question like that?’”
Throughout history, society has bared witness to the effects the use of technology has imposed on humanity and individual lives. These effects have changed the directory of how one lives. There have been advantageous contributions made by technology, but there have also been unfavorable contributions that have come out of the advancements of technology. These effects are evident in the novel, Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury. In Bradbury’s society of Fahrenheit 451, the overuse of technology possesses the most severe effects such as a lack of deep, personal connections with others, and an over-reliance on devices to fill the needs of society.
Technology has a negative impact on society because it broadcast’s what the government wants people to know and gives them a false sense of reality. Technology has a negative impact on society because the government only broadcasts certain things by showing billboards for miles and using screens to provide a false sense of reality. In Fahrenheit 451, Clarisse and Montag are talking about how the government broadcasts things. Clasrisse asks Montag “Have you seen the two hundred foot long billboards in the country beyond the town? Did you know that once billboards were only 20 feet long…
Rather than supporting her husband’s wishes and turning the television off, her immediate response is to defend the technology, which she does by referring to it as her “family.” Mildred’s tone when responding to Montag shows that she is not concerned with what he could be experiencing, and instead prioritizes her technology over her husband. Being Mildred’s husband, Montag is a part of her family. However, when Mildred refers to the parlor as her family she is acting as though they are more important than Montag. Following their interaction, that night while Mildred is laying in bed Montag begins to observe her, “Late in the night he looked over at Mildred.
oh everything gone…’ ” (Bradbury, 108). While her own house is merely minutes away from going up in flames, Mildred only mourns her TV “family”. No interaction between her and Montag is exchanged, and her mind is focused solely on the wellbeing of the 3 Televisions sat in the parlor room. Not a thought is given to her husband and what their lives will be like from this day forward, because Mildred doesn’t care about Montag or their relationship anymore.
Young children should not be spending the majority of their day watching tv or videos because it can affect their entire life completely. (STEWE-2) Technology can cause serious internal issues, “TV programs generate negative mood experiences (e.g. anxiety, sadness, anger, disgust), then these experiences will affect how you interpret events in your own life” (Taylor). Having anxiety, sadness, and anger can lead to depression which will later have a huge affect on a society. Depression can lead to suicide which then would lead to a decreasing population. (SIP-B) Bradbury then took his prediction about depression to cause a serious conflict in Fahrenheit 451.
Technology has a bad affected on society. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Beadbury a, nonfiction book . The novel is about what Ray Beadbury thought the future was going to like. This eassay is about how technology affected individuals, family, and society. As you keep reading you will learn how technology affected all three of those things.
Emma Ettinger Professor Marafino Humanities 200 March 18, 2023 The Reality of Growing Technology in Society As it takes place at an unreported time in the prospective future, the novel Fahrenheit 451 is a broad representation of our future. Ray Bradbury uses technology as a warning to readers. Technology is an encouragement for people to sit down in front of a television, indulge in social media, and tune out the real world. This in turn causes society to miss out on interactions with others along with becoming isolated.
The government also makes everyone oblivious to the fact that they are living a horrible life by placing television screens everywhere, which is the only source of entertainment for the people, even though technology is not that much better than books and newspapers, and plus, it is a lot more harmful to the eyes. Because of how many hundreds of frames are put together to make a TV show, it is really addicting. On the other hand, books do not have many pictures in them, and even picture books only have one or two pictures per page. “The tree women fidgeted and looked nervously at the empty mud-colored walls” (Bradbury 91). This passage is stated right after Montag, annoyed that no one is listening to him and is only watching the television, pulls the plug out, turning off the TV.
Instead of going down the street, people have “families” that live in their TV screens, that, in the case of Guy’s wife, people sit and talk to all day. Leonard Mead’s society is the same as Montag’s. While walking down the street, he “whisper[s] to every house on every side as he moved ... ‘What’s up on Channel 4, Channel 7, Channel 9?’” (Bradbury 601). He doesn’t have to question if each house has a TV, he already knows, just like Montag knows