Similarities Between 1984 And Modern Day Technology

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.

1984, written by George Orwell, illustrates a perfect example of a dystopian government. The setting is in Oceania, Britain. The government is full of spies and secret police that carefully watch the common people for any mistake they might make that can harm the government in any way. As shown with Winston Smith, the protagonist of the novel and many other citizens in Oceania, the government manipulates these characters into their pawns. The government asserts their power over the people in many ways. They have large telescreens in the people’s houses. The telescreens show the government what people are doing at all times. It can be dimmed down, but can never be turned off. Although Oceania is well off in money, the government rations food. The government’s philosophy is that

1984, a novel by George Orwell, represents a dystopian society in which the people of Oceania are surveilled by the government almost all the time and have no freedoms. Today, citizens of the United States and other countries are watched in a similar way. Though different technological and personal ways of keeping watch on society than 1984, today’s government is also able to monitor most aspects of the people’s life. 1984 might be a dystopian society, but today’s condition seems to be moving towards that controlling state, where the citizens are surveilled by the government at all times.

You ask what’s so special about technology? A surprising number of the technologies that define life today got their start in the 1980s. Technology has come to benefit our lives and make it easier. See what happened in the 80s, what was popular, and the influence on technology.

The book 1984 is a prediction of what the world would be like in the future. The prediction of the future in this book was made all by the writer's imagination. In reality, there are a few scenarios that are evident in today’s society that the writer predicted. For example, in 1984 there is a lot of invasion of privacy that occurs. Although in the book it is much more serious than today, there are times that the government is able to invade your privacy if they have a warrant or if there is suspicion. A serious case that caused issues for many people is when the government was accused of tapping into phones to try and stop terrorists. Many people found this to be a serious invasion of privacy, while others found it settling that the government was trying to protect the nation.

George Orwell's fantasy novel “1984” predicts the future in terms “Big Brother” is watching you!” His book, “1984”, was considered a visionary and futuristic novel that presents itself in an imminent society. Many people believe that a society like the one in 1984 is authentically impossible. However, the world has transformed over the years and become more controlled by the regime which is precisely what was transpiring in the book. With big brother overlooking us, and vast advertisements all over our technology that has influenced our society, and the crazy surveillance technology that is implemented into our everyday lives, a society like 1984 is not far from impossible. Our present world is commencing to become 1984 by our world control, mass surveillance, and propaganda

The use of technology in the novel 1984 by George Orwell was not just a means of

1984 was wrote by George Orwell, in the story he created a hypothetical world 40 years from then. In this alternate future three authoritarian states have taken over the entirety of the world. These governments erase history that does not agree with their policies. Ingsoc, the government of oceania that country where the story takes place, used advance survival as all public and private areas had TVs which contained cameras; microphones were also used to keep tab on the citizens. George Orwell used the story to warn about the potential dangers of a large centralized governments, in this instance to warn about the dangers of communism. Because of the satirical purpose which Orwell had in writing 1984, the characters in the book tend favor a shadowy or two-dimensional

Every day people use some kind of social network, email, cell phones, computers. all most every thing is on camera. 1984 is similar to modern day society in many ways such control, fear, and rebellion.

In 1984 there are many topics that are discussed that can give us an insight of the world we live in today. The government watching everything they do can teach us to be more thankful that our government is no longer like that. We have laws we must follow but we know that having that much control over the people isn’t right or healthy. Big Brother had control of most aspects of the people in Oceania. The parties would decide if you would get married to the person you wanted to be with, but you could not show any physically attraction to one another. If Big Brother wasn’t deciding the party was, no one people were to have any say or control in their lives. We know that that kind of control isn’t something that we would want for our society.

1984 has come to life in many cases for the United States. One of the big issues is the public’s privacy in the US, or lack of it in better words. The government spies in on its people in more ways than one, and it’s not just one country now. It seems that all over the world citizens are losing freedom in ways they never thought possible. A quote from 1984, “War is Peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.”(Orwell 4), shows how the government in 1984 wanted people to accept slavery as a part of life, even if that meant spying in on the citizens every waking moment of their lives. In a world where the government turns children against their parents, telescreens monitoring people's lives at home, and thought police

Throughout the storyline of 1984 Orwell clearly foreshadows similarities between his book and the present world within his writing. In 1984 there is a idea of a telescreen that is a lot like iPhones and iPads today. The telescreen works as follows ”Winston turned a switch and the voice sank somewhat, though the words were still distinguishable. The instrument (the telescreen, it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely” (Orwell 4). In 1984 almost all public places have a large TV or a telescreen. This screen shows news, propaganda, and entertainment controlled by the government as well as a way to spy on citizens’ lives. Today there is social media which tracks personal lives like in 1984. Examples are Snapchat which tracks location and events, Instagram which is used to watch and look at pictures that have to do with interests, and Facebook which shows events from a personal standpoint of life. Not only does society track people's lives but in 1984 government employees

Shortly after world war two George Orwell obviously wanted us to know what could have really happened if the government gets too powerful over its citizens. So he wrote the novel 1984 to show us what life would've been like in a totalitarian state. In the beginning of the novel Winston the main character of the story saw a poster that had a face on it and on the bottom of it said, “Big Brother is watching you.” Already by that first citation you could guess it was one of those stories where people live in a dystopian, brink of human rights. I’ve read Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, which is very similar to this novel. They both could relate to the telescreens, limited knowledge, and human rights being taken away and privacy being invaded.

Next, many people become fearful of the government. If people were aware of when the government was spying on them, their actions would become restrained due to fear. In 1984, Big Brother uses the fear of the people to control them. The Party uses the threat of torture against its citizens in order for them to follow to their commands. The people in 1984 fear what Big Brother will do to them if they do not follow the orders they are given. Those people are continually being watched therefore they are constantly keeping to themselves and are afraid of making the wrong decision or saying something that shouldn’t be said. For example, in 1984 the citizens are being monitored by telescreens which allow Big Brother to not only watch the actions of a person, but also listen to any conversations amongst themselves. Just like in 1984, citizens of this country are fearful of the government because of the possibility of being harmed. The government might feel threatened by a specific person because of their recent phone records or emails and use the threat of torture to prevent dangerous actions from taking place. Eventually, people will begin to change their behavior or actions because they are fearful the government will not approve of their current choices.

When first published, 1984 was viewed as an absurdly fictional novel. Readers thought that the ideas presented were exaggerated and would never be reality. However, it is exceedingly evident that it is no longer such a stretch of the imagination. In many places around the world, small and seemingly insignificant changes are being made that signify a slide toward totalitarianism. The first practice that makes this change seem apparent in the future is the use of hidden surveillance cameras. These seem to be consistent with the telescreens used in the novel. Most Wanted, a television show that displays suspected criminals and Crime Stoppers, a program put in place that allows citizens to