George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four Essay

Nineteen Eighty-Four is a novel written by George Orwell in 1949, based on a man named Winston who lives in a dilapidated world, filled with surveillance and totalitarian government control. Winston challenges the Party, but eventually succumbs to being the “ideal” citizen due to the re-indoctrination (torture) he had to go through. The life Winston lived was monitored, structured, and limiting. The dystopia of Nineteen Eighty-Four and modern life share an alarming amount of resemblances. It is feared that the dangers of social media, such as: criminal activity, enabling of violence, political influence, and data collection, will introduce us to the world that is Nineteen Eighty-Four. Based on a 2016 study by the Pew Research Center, the majority of adult

YouTube, a video sharing site, contained one billion monthly users, Instagram shared 600 million monthly visitors, and Twitter with 313 million monthly users (“Social Media”). Overall, Facebook remained the largest online social network, with about 1.86 billion active users worldwide (“Social Media”). The immense number of social media users is overwhelming.Though social media can be used positively by connecting friends and families around the world, it also comes with drastic consequences and dangers. With the amount of information that can be shared online, criminals can easily use this to target specific people, and can also use the information for identity theft (“Social Media”). Many networking shows have introduced the growing issue with a pedophilia and how social media can enable acts of violence against children, and not only that, but the new, easier accessibility to child pornography online (“Social Media”). Relationships between a pedophile and an underage person can easily be formed behind screens, as these attackers can be manipulative and often lie about their identity and