Technology Affects Society

Every day, everywhere people are using technology to check email, calculate tax, and talk with each other. Technology has greatly affected the social structure today and in Fahrenheit 451. Technology has effected how the TV controls our lives, how we communicate with one another, and how strong the social structure is In both the real world and Fahrenheit 451.

In the book Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury, the author predicts the future of today’s society. Bradbury predicted the future of today’s technology and societal issues. Some technology from the book that is similar to today is the small electronic earpieces that fit into peoples’ ears to communicate with people; nowadays, it exists and people call it Bluetooth. In addition, there was large flat screen televisions that were the size of a wall. Technology is part of the societal issues from the book, they are similar to today’s society because the people do not care about reading or gaining knowledge anymore, it’s all about television and technology. In addition, suicide is not taken care of or prevented properly It is almost as suicide is taken as a joke. Actually, there are many ways today’s society is similar to the book, society that Bradbury based in the future containing advanced technology and societal issues.

Over time people have gotten lazier and we have machines to blame. According to Ray Bradbury, “why learn anything save pressing buttons…”( Bradbury 53). In Bradbury’s society in Fahrenheit 451 people just sit back, relax, press a button, and watch a machine do the work for them. Much like in our society, people get lazy and just watch a machine do the work that they could be doing, and having no human interaction whatsoever. According to The Bottom Line, “Internet and mobile technology seems to be subtly destroying the meaningfulness of interactions we have with others.”(Technology Destroying Human Interaction). This is becoming the reality not only in Fahrenheit 451 but in our everyday society.

Most often, people can be seen walking with their heads down, immersed in the technology in front of them, ignoring the whole world. Societies often contain a lot of technology, allowing people to use it in helpful or hurtful ways. Some technology can be lifesaving, but there is also technology that can destroy life in less than a second. Most often, people seem to not understand what technology is doing and how it is impacting their lives. Instead, they are blinded by the few positives of technology that actually hurt the society more than they can recognize. In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, the society is heavily dependent on technology. Technology has a negative impact on the characters in Fahrenheit 451. People in the society become addicted to the parlor walls, cars go so fast that they don’t see anything outside and the mechanical hound instills fear in people.

In both Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and Vonnegut’s “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow”, the authors show major concerns about the future. Bradbury’s major concern is the misuse of technology that leads to the corruption of society while Vonnegut’s major concern is overpopulation and the lack of natural resources for the future. Both authors show concerns that can turn out to be real if people do not do anything about the environment and about technology.

“In the last 50 years, up to 100,000 Americans lost their lives due to inactivity leading to some sort of conditional disease such as heart disease [including the laziness within people of society]” (Wise 12). So many people have died from becoming lazy, doing nothing but go on their phones, devices, rather than doing everyday things. Technology has changed the way society approaches life, always depending on it rather than themselves and others. The society today consists of nothing but TV screens, telephone, smartphones, iPads, and items the 19th century would consider a dream to lay hands on. A book written by Bradbury presents lack of effort people put into their lives and society; Bradbury predicts how the future will become later on in the society. Becoming more similar to the laziness and ignorance in the novel, Fahrenheit 451, the society today struggles the society today struggles with dependency on technology which results to lack of social interactions with one another and failure in becoming literate with books.

The average person in our society spends 7-8 hours a day(The Washington Post) using technology; that is stuff like television, video games, surfing the web, etc. Let that set in; that’s a long time. Our society procrastinates also is constantly distracted by technology like no other. We are practically glued to technology; before we become slaves of technology we must change that. The theme of technology in Fahrenheit 451 informs us that the overuse of technology makes people lazy/procrastinate, that technology will overpower people’s lives, and technology takes away from people’s education.

People believe that an abundance of technology and fast, busy lives are beneficial to more efficient and overall better society. In reality, that lifestyle may be a detriment to society. The culture, characters, and themes in Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 create an interesting dystopian setting that serves as a warning to future readers.

Do you think that living in a technical world would destroy society? Well, in Bradbury's novel, Fahrenheit 451, technology is very advanced and seems to get people's attention. "You're not important. You're not anything" (Bradbury 163). Fahrenheit 451 is explained as a dystopian literature. Such literature portrays an imaginary world where misguided attempts to create a utopia, or a socially and politically perfect place, results in “large scale human misery." (Critique by Michael M. Levy) This quote makes you realize that technology is taking over humans and the world has to do something about it. By creating an “utopia”, Fahrenheit 451 requires the government to take away citizen’s rights and freedoms to create the perfect society.

Ever see firefighter’s burn houses because it was their job? What about books being completely outlawed? In the novel Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury creates a futuristic, dystopian society, in where people are engulfed by an influx of technology. In this odd world, people are more concerned about technology than they are about people. In Fahrenheit 451, the book serves as a warning to us about the negative effects of the overuse of technology.

In Fahrenheit 451, they lived in a world with no books, several televisions in each household, and very little day to day conversation. In Bradbury’s future, he sees different kinds of technology, such as television and seashells, replacing books, making people in the world believe their happiness is within the technology, when it’s actually the people around you.

In Fahrenheit 451, it tells the story of a firefighter in a futuristic world, except these firefighters don’t put out the fires, they start them. Their society is one where oblivion is happiness and where electronics are one of the only ways to pass time, similar to the one we are living in now. Ray Bradbury was able to write a book that reflects our society so well, like the way we surround ourselves with electronics, how sports in schools are becoming more important then the education, and our tendency not to question or overthink things, except he wrote it in 1953. Technology is extremely important in today’s society. Technology has made businesses grow, bringing along new job oppurtunities, and it has led to many advances in agriculture,

In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, technology plays a major role in the society. Their society is so influenced by technology that they simply cannot function without it. They aren’t capable of thinking on their own because they rely so heavily on technology to think for them. Bradbury’s prediction was correct. The world is so reliant on their technology that students can’t leave their phones at home for one day without being behind on an assignment or two. Technology plays a crucial role in American society today in economic and social ways. It allows society to easily communicate with people all around the world with just one click of a button. Therefore, technology is a good thing when used in the Virtually all businesses today use some form of technology to more efficiently produce their services or products. Even social networks have been created to allow people to post events in their lives and talk to others online. Texting permits people to communicate without out actually talking to each other. Although, these enhancements in technology allow for quicker and easier forms of communication, society is also becoming much less social as a result. increase In Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury argues that the development of technology is “dumbing down” people in the Utopian society, ultimately warping the perfect world into a dystopian society. Ray

One of the many ways our world is similar to the dystopian world of Fahrenheit 451 is in the way technology affects our relationships. Technology, especially for younger people,

Can you live a day without your phone, tablet, computer? Well you probably could, but it probably wouldn’t be enjoyable. Well, how about a day without bullying, depression, and impolite people? Now that is a day most would probably wish for. Society wants to have causes these wretched events, but doesn’t want to accept that what they want is the main cause of these issues; technology. The lack of interaction that has come along with technology is what is causing severe downfalls in today’s society. This lack of interaction is causing this fall due to its harm of social skills, its harm on people’s enjoyment of life, and its easy ignition of conflicts.