The electronic devices that society carries in this modern age have a bigger purpose than communicating with others. This society continues to advance in technology through phones, computers, televisions, cameras, and more— only to bring the world closer to Oceania, a society where a totalitarian government watches and listens to everyone’s moves in order to control their minds and actions. For instance, there are thought police who monitor people of Oceania to catch thought crime, which means having thoughts or plans that are considered rebellious against the government. In the novel, 1984, George Orwell discusses Big Brother’s capabilities of “all seeing,” also known as “panopticon” (Maass, Rajagopalan, 14). Despite this, it was never clarified whether Big Brother is a real person or a creation of the Party— similar to ‘Uncle Sam.” The surveillance technology used by Big Brother is the telescreen, a television in every room used to watch and listen for those who may be against Big Brother. The telescreen may not be turned off, except by inner party members, otherwise, a crime could happen and not be caught. In today’s society, privacy continues to be invaded due to smartphones and smart TVs, which reshape modern society into the totalitarian government that is shown in 1984. …show more content…
Today’s society has similar capabilities and limitations of surveillance technology used by Big Brother which could lead to a government that abuses its power and brainwashes every person into thinking that today’s political leaders are