As Seen: On The Telescreen!

Everyone has always wondered if people were ever watching them. Our technology today is capable to eavesdrop in on anyone’s conversations even if their phones are turned off. In the novel, “1984”, the party INGSOC uses telescreens to watch over the people and always know what they are up to. This denies the people’s rights and privileges to go about their business as they please. The technology we have today is almost exact to what big brother uses in George Orwell’s novel by taking over the public and private parts of our lives.

One parallel from modern day life to George Orwel’s 1984 is the Telescreens or “big brother is watching you” to the NSA’s surveillance. In the novel the telescreen is a device similar to a TV combined with a security camera. The device is used by the party to monitor the behavior of the inner and outer party members and to insure that they are not plotting against the party. The people of the inner and outer party have very little to no privacy.

Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell, is a superb novel with outstanding themes. One of the most prominent themes found in this novel is psychological manipulation. Citizens in this society are subject to ever present signs declaring “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU” (Orwell 1). Along with psychological manipulation, physical control takes place. The Party not only controls what people in Oceania think, but what they do as well. Technology is another important theme. Without the constant telescreens, microphones, and computers, the Party would be all but powerless. Big Brother is the main figure of the Party. The main symbol that drives these themes is the telescreens. It is representative of the party always watching and controlling

“BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU”(Orwell 2), is a saying that surrounds society in the classic novel 1984. The author, George Orwell provides his audience with an abundant amount of themes throughout his writing. One very prominent one is Orwell’s psychological manipulation of his characters. As characters within this society are constantly surrounded by sayings such as, “WAR IS PEACE”, “FREEDOM IS SLAVERY”, and “IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH”(Orwell 4), Orwell shows the ultimate type of control within his characters. Orwell is able to achieve such psychological manipulation in his characters through physical control and the abundance of technology. Without Orwell’s use of telescreens, his characters would be able to have their

The telescreens in the novel are everywhere and they can see everything that people do. This relates to today’s times because of all the technology that has emerged. Phones, for examples, can now tell a person where they have been and how long they were there. This connects back to 1984 with the fact that now; people are basically carrying around telescreens in their pockets. The telescreens in 1984 watched over the proles and members of both inner and outer party, just like cell phones track everyone with a smartphone. Another instance in the novel that relates to today’s world is the telescreen waking you up in the morning. When Winston wakes up one morning and the instructress yells commands to help wake him up, she shouts, “And now let’s see which of us can touch our toes!” (Orwell 33). The relation here is that there are phone applications today that will set off an

In 1984 the political manipulation of technology oppresses the people of Oceania and leads to the downfall of individuality and of the qualities that define humanity. Telescreens and the Internet are used not for entertainment purposes but to monitor people’s lives.

In the book, Orwell shows how people are affected by the telescreens when Winston says “It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen.” (Orwell ) This suggests that the Party’s surveillance tactics are so advanced that even your thoughts might betray you and get you into trouble. It also shows that people have lost any sense of freedom that they previously had. The implications of this are that the government is forcefully manipulating the people so as to avoid any rebellious behavior but in the process, it has also taken away their privacy. The idea of being heard or watched by something when you think that you have privacy is something that has traveled through time and still exists today. An example in modern American society could be how the brand-new Alexa is said to “record snippets of what you say in the privacy of your home and store it on Amazon servers.” (Tsukayama) This shows how even in modern times that there are means that might be used to spy on people and keep track of what they say and do. This is important because an American society that is said to be democratic and free still has a sense of secrecy and loss of privacy. The people in this society should find it troubling that they don’t have privacy the same way that people in a totalitarian regime had lost their freedom.

George Orwell’s novel 1984 reflects on the society of dystopian city Airstrip 1 where main character Winston Smith lives. Along with the many other citizens, Winston is controlled by the Inner Party by constantly being monitored via telescreens that keep sight of everybody and their actions. Besides using telescreens the government also easily arrests people in any case of “thoughtcrime” which consists of any thoughts that regard disobedience towards the government. Thoughtcrime and telescreens are two of the several factors that reflect the extreme surveillance in 1984. Orwell uses surveillance as the central theme of the novel to spread his idea that the usage of more extreme surveillance could eventually lead to a totalitarian society. On a less extreme scale, today’s society also has a significant amount of surveillance but many question whether or not more surveillance is necessary. With the many current text sources, it is certain that we need less surveillance in order to keep a stable society that does not take away the individualism of people.

The novel 1984 by George Orwell shows similarities to today’s world because in it telescreens and microphones, like social media in our world, cause people to change their behavior for the eyes of others to prevent negative consequences.

The Orwellian government controls many aspects of an individual’s life in the belief that this will create a utopia. Unfortunately, this utopia is only beneficial to the inner party. In the book, the ruling party relies heavily on technology to keep control of the population. This government uses a lot of propaganda, which is fed to the people through this technology. A device called a “telescreen” is used as the mouth of the government. It is implemented not only in public places but in peoples’ homes and it cannot be switched off. It constantly broadcasts only information that the government wants seen. This action is described at the beginning of the novel when we are first introduced to the telescreen:

            Big Brother’s opinions are strict—very strict.  They are so strict that there are oversized cameras called telescreens installed everywhere throughout Oceania.  The telescreens ensure that nothing is said about Oceania’s perfect leader.  This device is installed as a reminder that “Big Brother is always watching” (Orwell, 1949).

By using the telescreen, a surveillance device located in the homes of all Party members, the Thought Police are able to keep everyone under scrutiny. Winston says, “You had to live-did live, from habit that became instinct -in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and except in darkness, every movement scrutinized” (Orwell, 3). This quotation shows how the intense observation efforts stifle the actions and thoughts of the people in Oceania. An essential component of being human is the ability to communicate freely. Communication has fostered developments in mathematics, literature, science, and every field of learning. The Party deprives their citizens of the human spirit of education by preventing uninhibited conversation. Stephen Ingle’s essay from The Abuse of Power in 1984 reads, “This lack of distinction between a private and public realm is precisely what gives life in Oceania its nightmare quality. Nobody has the recourse to a private world in which he or she may regain self esteem or attempt to control even the smallest part of their destiny: there is no escape from Big Brother” (_______, ____). This excerpt reveals that constant surveillance removes a portion of humanity. Humans need to have havens of refuge where they can lower their defenses against the outside world and have the safety to think and act as they wish. Of course there is the

In the novel 1984 written by George Orwell a telescreen is described as “an oblong metal plaque like a dulled mirror which formed part of the surface of the right-hand wall” (Orwell 4). The telescreens that are placed almost everywhere in the fictional world of Oceania have some unique features as well. They can not be completely shut off they can only be dimmed although that does not really benefit anyone as the words can still be easily distinguished (Orwell 4). The purpose of this device is to display information as well as receive information (Orwell 5). They are mainly used to display political propaganda and they are also used to listen and spy on all the inhabitants of Oceania. These telescreens eliminate personal freedom, they expose

The government in 1984 maintains power by using constant surveillance and suppression of citizens. Unlike the modern era, all citizens know they are being watched and are cautious about their actions. Winston says of the telescreen, the Party’s method of espionage: “Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it [the telescreen], moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as

The Party naturalizes the dominance that it has in the way that it constantly conducts surveillance on its members. Through the use of devices called telescreens, the government is able to observe every movement and sound made in the homes of members, on the streets of Oceania, and in the workplace. These telescreens act as modern day webcams and make the government privy to all things going on in the city. The footage transmitted from these screens is monitored by the Thought Police, and it is this government body that determines whether or not one is guilty of a crime. Since the members of the Party are so accustomed to being constantly