The Veldt By Ray Bradbury

In the story “The Veldt,” Ray Bradbury satirizes how indulging in technology leads to addiction and takes away independence. The children are so ingrained in technology that it becomes a challenge to handle taking a break from it. Near the end of the story, it becomes especially evident how attached and connected the kids are to it. When they were told that the house would be turned off, they acted irrationally, going hysterical as they “yelled and sobbed and swore and jumped” and “threw themselves onto a couch,” revealing how the need for technology makes people act irrationally and immaturely (Bradbury 217, 221). In addition, technology makes children’s lives very easy, which in turn takes away crucial independence that is learned at a young age.

The children even go so far as to note that they do not want to do anything except “look, listen, and smell” when asked to learn to paint by themselves, displaying with clarity how laziness turns to extraordinary after experiencing a vastly influential level of technology (Bradbury 162). The main ideas that “The Veldt” explores help to demonstrate how its themes are still relevant today. Recently, many technological advances, like Alexa, have been made to make it easier to do already simple tasks. This device is arguably very unnecessary compared to what is already out there. Many common phrases used with Alexa are “What is the temperature today?” or “What is the day today?”; despite the fact that the ideas behind these questions are noteworthy, other just as effective and efficient methods, such as the Google search engine or apps, already