Technology Usage In Fahrenheit 451, By Ray Bradbury

Technology usage rates in today’s world are immense, Pew Research Center says that about 85% of American adults use technology on a daily basis. In Ray Bradbury’s dystopian novel, Fahrenheit 451, the rate of usage is significantly higher. The novel’s futuristic society has outlawed all books, forcing citizens such as Mildred and her friends to turn to technology for knowledge instead. As a result, a majority of the civilization possesses such a low mental capacity that there is rarely a reaction to the constant threat of nuclear war, or any event leading to the development of the society. Bradbury uses Mildred and her friends’ poor mental capacity to demonstrate both how reliance on technology damages one’s ability to think for oneself, and

By looking to technology and “the ‘family’” to “be cheery”, Mildred and her friends damage their own ability to think and formulate feelings (Bradbury 97). It is in technology’s nature to force one to be reliant on it for the easy stimulus and happiness it provides, in turn giving mass media the control over people’s own thinking and opinions. One can see the effects of this control in the mental capacity to form personal connections that Mildred and her friends lack, unless referring to relationships with ‘the family’ or technology. As technology takes over, Mildred and her friends naturally begin thinking of superficial qualities when voting for the “nicest-looking men” in an election, instead of their own genuine thoughts (Bradbury 93). The girls, Mildred and her friends, lose sight of their true opinions being unable to think without the materialistic influence of technology. The mind-numbing media the girls take in destroys any mental capacity for their own thoughts, making them even more reliant on technology to compose their own opinions. With the ability to think for oneself damaged by the reliance on technology, not only does one’s mental capacity deteriorate, but as discussed next, a society’s evolution does

Situations unabiding to standards of society are easy to avoid, or in Mildred’s case, “[run] past with her body stiff”, which consequently inhibits evolution (Bradbury 108). The low mental capacity Mildred and her friends embody limits their ability to face situations acting against the government, making it difficult for a society to develop. The progress of Bradbury’s society is restricted by the girls’ static characters as they have never experienced anything but conformity. Mildred and her friends’ ignorance causes them to dissociate the war from their lives, “let[ting] old Pete do all the worrying [about the war]. Not me”, consequently stunting the evolution of their society (Bradbury 91). Being too ignorant to comprehend one’s surroundings can create an overwhelming anxiety about the way the outside world works, making the easy route for the girls to be completely dissociating from the war. Without the ability to fully process and understand their surroundings, Mildred and her friends give no contribution to societal evolution, as a civilization cannot develop from ignorance. Evolution of a society cannot occur if conformity and ignorance make one’s mental capacity so low it is easier to avoid and dissociate from