People are brainwashed by what is thought to be a perfect life and perceive nothing to be better. Many places are dystopias; the people think their life is perfect, recognizing nothing of what they could be. Anywhere can become a dystopia, even the current society today. It already is a technology based society with constant watch on the citizens, who can merely choose and nothing much more.
Dystopia in Bradbury’s Books
Just like the dystopian society found in “The Veldt” citizens already spend more than enough time on their devices. “The Veldt” represents a short story showing what the author believes what will happen with more advancements in technology. In “The Veldt” when the father of two children advises them that he is planning on “turning the whole house off,” the children overreact, saying “That sounds dreadful!” “Oh, I hate you!” and “I wish you were dead!” (Bradbury). Several individuals do overreact when they are ‘punished’ with time away from technology. So many more childlike people do not know a life away from technology, they can’t imagine one without it.
In our current society, technology is literally killing individuals, and so many people don’t even care. “Distracted driving of all sorts killed at least 3,179 people last year. But all the attention paid to the deadly consequences in recent years hasn’t stopped people from whipping out their smartphones,” according to Smart phones are distracting, but many users willing to accept the risks (Halsey III). So many humans have gotten into the routine of always having their cell phones that it is diverting them from not only their lives, but other humans’s lives, enough to get them killed. All of the terrible things that happen because of technology, most people don’t care one bit, they merely neglect it and keep doing what they are doing. So many people find it hard to take breaks, gradually forming us into a technology based society, all that seems to matter is slowly becoming something that isn’t even real. Technology is developing society into a dystopia and no one is even noticing.
Technological Control in Life and Literature
Not only are we being ruled by technology, citizens in our society are under constant surveillance and don’t even recognize it. We are like those in the novel The Giver, with a watch on us keeping us on track. In The Giver, after the leading protagonist Jonas takes an apple home from their recreation area after noticing an imperfection in it, the government enunciated “that objects are not to be removed from the recreation area” (Lowry 23). The government noticed him take the apple just like they’ve noticed everything else he has done. The people think they have freedom, but they don’t, they have more eyes on them making sure they stick to the script. The same thing goes in our society. “The National Security Agency in the U.S. tracks the metadata surrounding the billions of digital messages Americans send every day” thanks to Surveillance society: 7 ways you’re being watched, and didn’t know it, we know it (Johnson). The government primarily knows our every move. So many citizens are on technology all the time; they can easily track us. People do so many things and don’t even know someone else sees it, and people can almost control what we do and when we do it.
Although the world is becoming a dystopian society with technology and surveillance, people still exercise a freedom to choose. People could choose to turn back and make sure it doesn’t become a dystopia, but don’t. People could conform and cause sameness, making all individuality close, and with that, freedom. In the story “Harrison Bergeron” all characters that have any qualities that are above average have to wear handicaps. Big weights for stronger people, earpieces for smarter people, just so they couldn’t take advantage of their abilities. “They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else” (Vonnegut, Jr.). Every move they made, the government had control of because of their handicaps. They had no freedom, no individuality, nothing. Today’s society is gradually becoming like that of Harrison Bergeron’s world. Katie Kehl, author of Conformity Attacking Today’s Youth, recognizes why it is happening. She thinks,’teens conform because they want to fit in. Being different is no longer a positive attribute.” (Kehl). People no longer admire different people. All people want to do is fit in, which is inspiring them to conform, which can cause sameness, taking away everything we have left, and surrendering the government in control. The society people live in today has nothing left but their individuality, which is also being taken away, by themselves.
Conclusion
The people in today’s society aren’t noticing their freedoms being taken away by technology and surveillance. People don’t notice their choice is all they have left of themselves, and they can relieve themselves. They are establishing the next dystopia. Merely imagine what would happen if you lived in a dystopia. It may seem pleasant, but it could be more. People need to be making sure our world doesn’t become a dystopia.
