Fahrenheit 451 and the Future | Teen Ink

Fahrenheit 451 and the Future

September 25, 2012
By Triscuits BRONZE, Vinton, Virginia
Triscuits BRONZE, Vinton, Virginia
3 articles 0 photos 6 comments

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"She may be tragically beautiful, but I'm beautifully tragic"


In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury shows how the modern way of living will eventually alter life on earth completely.

In the present, everyone is always moving and do not stop to look and enjoy things. Cars are always advertised based on their speed, because that is the only thing people want; everyone always wants the fastest phone or computer, all for the sole reason of being faster than anyone else. In Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury portrays our hunger for speed through the way people in his futuristic society behave on the highway. “If you showed a driver a green blur, Oh yes! He’d say, that’s grass! A pink blur? That’s a rose garden! White blurs are houses. Brown blurs are cows. My uncle drove slowly on a highway once. He drove forty miles an hour and they jailed him for two days. Isn’t that funny?” (Bradbury, 6). Although at the moment it may seem ridiculous to get sent to jail for driving forty miles per hour, if we continue to let the desire for speed to keep driving us it may not seem all that ridiculous in the future.

We are accepting it as completely “normal” to sit in front of the television and not interact with other humans for hours on end. Television producers are always making shows out of something, and you can find a show about pretty much anything. Reality shows- which, ironically, are anything but reality- are extremely popular at the moment. In fact, it may as well one day turn into something like Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games. “It’s really fun. It’ll be even more fun when we can afford to have the fourth wall installed. How long you figure before we save up and get the fourth wall torn out and a fourth wall-TV put in? It’s only two thousand dollars.” (18). Parents don’t pay attention to what their kids watch anymore; they just sit them in front of the television as if it were a babysitter, so they can get work done. Kids are beginning to think that they should just watch television when they are bored, and that isn’t the case. This is one of the reasons they say America is the fattest country, and we need to change the way our kids look at television. It should be considered a treat, rather than something they are allowed to take advantage of.

As a society, we are becoming more and more antisocial. People are always on their phones, texting or emailing friends and family. We do not really see people face to face anymore, or in real life; there is always a screen between them, and in some cases hundreds of thousands of miles. For example, teenagers spend most of their time on Facebook talking to friends, but they don’t hang out after school. You could probably even talk to your family members, who are in the same house, without ever leaving your room. “The psychiatrist wants to know why I go out and hike around in the forests and watch the birds and collect butterflies. I’ll show you my collection one day” (20). Like Montag, a lot of people only leave the house when it is absolutely necessary; there are even websites to deliver groceries, so, if you wanted, you would not have to go out and interact with other people. Fifty or sixty years ago, people would visit neighbors and talk in the afternoons, and that’s how it ought to be instead of going online to IM.

Fahrenheit 451 is trying to show us how the way we live now will affect us in the future. If we keep depending on technology and do not question things, it will be easier for other people, like the government, to control us. Our society is slowly becoming less and less intelligent because we depend so much on technology. Children are being taught to use iPads and computers in elementary school, and they are also taught math using a calculator. If we keep being so dependent on technology, the human brain will eventually be useless to us. Our generation has to change, or we may suffer the consequences.


The author's comments:
This is an analysis essay I wrote for my english class explaining how Fahrenheit 451 may become truth in the future.

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This article has 72 comments.


Lexi said...
on Sep. 11 2013 at 4:06 pm
I agree with how the article talks about, how our actions now will effect how the future will be. However, a lot of people still do leave their homes to go and hang out with friends, or go to extra-curricular activities.

Katrina said...
on Sep. 11 2013 at 4:05 pm
It's kind of ironic because at my school everyone gets iPad to use. We rarely use books anymore. I wonder how this will affect our learning in the long run.

Trace said...
on Sep. 11 2013 at 4:05 pm
This is very true and i agree it could end up being true in the near future. Every one in our high school has an ipad so when will the middle and elementary schools get them

Andrew777 said...
on Sep. 11 2013 at 4:05 pm
Wow! That was great! I really loved your article. I am appalled at the use of technology these days because I love enjoying nature and camping. Nobody ever talks face to face, and that is so true! Great job, and keep up the good work!

zubyr said...
on Sep. 11 2013 at 1:04 pm
Technologies have their own advantages and disadvantages but we should only use it when necessary. If we live like 60 years back and socialize face to face and have less distractions, we would not have to change our lifestyle to an anti social society.

John said...
on Sep. 11 2013 at 1:01 pm
This article shows what could happen if we keep using technology as a crutch instead of a tool.

Len Z said...
on Sep. 11 2013 at 1:00 pm
I think that the article is very informative and that this future can be possible if people are just always absorbed in technology. And we do have a fat population because aren't getting off their butts and going outside to play with their friends our just walk around and talk to them. I know that I would much rather see my friends in person than text or dim them on twitter but you always can't see the people you care for so technology is a great alternative.

on Sep. 11 2013 at 1:00 pm
I agree with what the article is saying, but at the same time it is very important to be technologically advance and to keep moving so that the tomorrow for the next generation can be solving world issues instead of innovating. At the same time it is important to talk to people and it is hard to make social skills through Facebook or get fresh air while wired in. It's important to stay away from technology, but at the same time it is important to work on tomorrow's technology today.

TrevorHicks said...
on Sep. 11 2013 at 12:59 pm
Change is inevitable. In our daily lives we require change. Whether it be something little such as a change in your daily schedule or moving to a new house. We developed ways to socialize through technology. I talk to my friends a lot differently through texting then I would in real life. You really can't choose, for society, how we want to socialize. It's determined by the average joe. Everyone follows the best example. No one in the world has a choice of how to run anything unless everyone follows the best example.

Justice said...
on Sep. 11 2013 at 12:58 pm
I agree with this article because we are beginning to become like Farenheit 451. We no longer read or go outside and play. We always are siting watching tv or playing phone games and if we keep this up we will become just like them.

ranechka said...
on Sep. 11 2013 at 12:58 pm
I agree that people are getting more dependent on technology and don't think with their heads as much. People also socialize through technology but that isn't always a bad thing. You could be talking with someone who is very far away from you whereas you couldn't without the technology. TV is becoming big part of our lives. It, along with social media, is keeping people from socializing face-to-face.

Matthew said...
on Sep. 11 2013 at 12:58 pm
I agree with the idea that our society is turning towards a completely technology run society. In the coming decades we could grow more and more into a society similar to Fahrenhiet 451. Libraries everywhere are becoming smaller and less used. Technology can give us faster and more up to date information than books can.

Tbrooke said...
on Sep. 11 2013 at 12:57 pm
I agree that technology is running our world and everyone depends on it.

Pikachuuuuuu said...
on Sep. 11 2013 at 12:57 pm
I actually agree with what this article is saying. I'm afraid that in the future people will lose the ability to talk to one another normally. And the thought of the government controlling us through media is pretty scary. It's like modern day mind controlling.

Ankit said...
on Sep. 11 2013 at 12:57 pm
Fahrenheit 451 does in fact show us a glimpse of what our future will be like if we keep letting technology take us over. If we just keep putting our children in front of televisions when we need to keep them distracted, they'll think tv is the thing to do when nothing else is there, and this is what causes a lot of the problems in America. But this article does explain how Fahrenheit 451 shows us a glimpse of our future.

Jack said...
on Sep. 11 2013 at 12:56 pm
I think we are well on our way to a more anti social world. Instead of talking to one another we sent messages online and depend on technology for things like simple math. We need to become less dependent on technology.

MinionHunter said...
on Sep. 11 2013 at 12:56 pm
I agree with most... Well all of the piont made in this article besides the last paragraph when it says that human brain will become useless. A human brain can never become completely useless to a human unless they have died. Your brain controls you're breathing, muscles,nerves and alot of other things that you use everyday with out even thinking. Plus, with out your brain how would you even know your name.

Davis said...
on Sep. 11 2013 at 12:56 pm
I feel like this post is very pessimistic and is only talking about the negatives of technology and doesn't even say one thing about the many positives that technology can bring us like faster information and also the ability to look up anything we want to know.

Elbio said...
on Sep. 11 2013 at 12:56 pm
This article is well thoughtout. To think that one day we will live in a world were just thinking about nature is a crime is quite scary. This article is correct we need to change if we don't what to end up like this.

Ruth said...
on Sep. 11 2013 at 12:56 pm
I do believe that society is becoming more anti social. People are always on their phones texting, even if the person that they are texting is right next to them!