Technology In Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury

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From TV to the internet, entertainment has taken our minds away from the world of critical thinking and learning. In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, the dystopian society that Montag, the protagonist, lives in, is brainwashed to think that parlor walls and seashell radios are the only ways to achieve sensation. Books today are highly valued and take our minds into deep thought and thinking; in Montag’s society books are “harmful” to the human mind and their government state that books contradict themselves. Although sensation from technology can lead to contentment, entertainment draws us away from analytical thought and learning that books lay upon us. Sensation from technology in Fahrenheit 451 sidetracks society’s minds into the realms …show more content…

Sensation from technology has immersed our brains into a realm of distraction, much like of Montag’s society where people are so focused on what’s happening on a screen than in real life. For example, when Montag was sick and he asked Millie to turn down the parlor she ignored him, “ “That’s my favorite program,” she said.” (page 52; part one). Millie no longer cares about Montag; she believes that her program “family” is more important than her actual husband. Montag and Millie are slowly drifting apart emotionally and mentally. Montag disregards Millie’s obsession with TV and Millie is ignoring Montag’s physical needs and tending to her “family”. People in her society are hypnotized into looking at a screen. Similarly, our society is evolving into mindless screens addicts. Our society is getting closer to non thinking and books are a way to salvage the small amount of critical thinking stimuli left in our minds. Another instance where people are becoming non-thinkers is when Millie tells Montag about her parlor family. “There are these people named Bob and Ruth and Helen.” (page 21; part 1). This confirms the idea that people are so engrossed in screens that they forget about reality. Millie now believes that fictitious characters from a screen exist. Today’s society is attracted to any type of entertainment sensation. An example is smart phones, people use it as an escape from reality; people spend so much time on their phones, that time passes by quickly and they forget what happened in real life. They surround themselves with screens and after a long period of time, they don’t know the difference between fiction and reality. Given these points, our generation is lost in a sensation