Dangers Of Technology In Fahrenheit 451

(AGG) Technology is great isn't it? but what if we take technology to its dangers as Ray Bradbury warned us in Fahrenheit 451 that we might be doing right now?(BS-1) Isolation is one of the major dangers technology can do to us.(BS-2) Technology can be a waste of time and take away our hours of the day when you can be useful with your time.(BS-3) Since we are surrounded by all of this technology we don't know what our reality is.(TS) One of the main messages in Bradbury's book is that everyone is surrounded by technology, but it can cause people to isolate themselves and take away time from developing relationships and making memories.

(MIP-1) Technology like iPhones, iPods, T.V, tablets, and other devices can make people isolate themselves

just like Bradbury showed in his book.(SIP-A): People that constantly use technology are often disconnected because they always use their technology instead of communicating with others.(STEWE-1):In Fahrenheit 451, Montag is separated by his own wife because she is surrounded by technology and does not talk to him. “He lay far across the room from her on a winter island separated by an empty sea”(39). Bradbury is showing the readers that Mildred and Montag do not connect with each other. Even when they are together they act like strangers and either listen to music on their seashell radios or watch mindless television.(STEWE-2): When Montag illegally brought the Bible onto the train, he could have been caught red handed by the other passengers. Instead everyone was just sitting on the train and not paying attention to the crime in front of them because they sat alone quiet with their seashells plugged in their ears.“ The people were pounded into submission; they did not run, there was no place to run; the great air train fell down its shaft in the earth”(75). The author is showing that technology makes people lose focus on other things and just entertain themselves with technology. Montag was trying to read the Bible in public and no one noticed because they were oblivious to what was happening.(SIP-B): People aren't realizing that if they keep on using their technology, they’re not going to remember the memories they created.(STEWE-1): Granger tells Montag that everyone will always create memories but in this society people aren't recognizing them. “All of us have photographic memories but spend a lifetime learning how to block off the things that are really in there”(144). As you can see this book tells us that we need to appreciate our memories instead of blocking them with technology. Many people do not participate during special moments in their life, instead they are focused on digitally storing the memory and not being in the moment.(STEWE-2): When Mildred’s friends were over, Montag turned off the parlor walls to talk to everyone because all they were doing was watching the wall when they can just have a conversation and learn about each other.“ The three women turned slowly and looked with unconcealed irritation and then dislike at Montag”(90). The women were angry with Montag because they wanted to watch the parlor walls, but he wanted to connect with them. Technology was taking over their lives. There are families that live together but never talk to each other because they use their laptops or other technology when families are supposed to be physically talking to each other.(CS): These days people are not realizing that they are using technology every single day but they still think that they are bonding when they are really not.

(MIP-2): Technology can be a distraction and waste your time when you can really be living life.(SIP-A): When you use technology a lot you can lose your connection to what is real and not know how amazing life can be.(STEWE-1): Montag sees Mildred everyday with her seashells and constantly uses technology.

“There was a tiny dance of melody in the air, her seashell was tamped in her ear again and she was listening to far people in far places, her eyes wide and staring at the fathoms of blackness above her in the ceiling”(39). This evidence shows that people today use technology too much and do not know the difference between sleeping and being awake. Mildred lays in bed listening to the radio and not really sleeping. (STEWE-2): The days are shorter for Mildred because she uses technology which can be a waste of time. “She had both ears plugged with electronic bees that were humming the hour away”(16). When we use less technology our time seems longer because you do something physically or creatively, but when we do use it a lot our time seems shorter.(SIP-B): Technology is also time wasting because all you do is watch or listen when you can be creating memorable bonds and living life.(STEWE-1):Everyday Montag felt like he was living with a stranger and knew something was wrong.“ He was in someone else’s house, like those other jokes people told of the gentleman drunk, coming home late at night, unlocking the wrong door, entering a wrong room, and bedding with a stranger and getting up early and going to work and neither of them wiser”(39-40). When we are focused on technology sometimes we do not realize what is happening around us. Montag had a blank mind and knew it was because of technology.(STEWE-2): When Montag meets Clarisse he knew that she was different because she didn't use technology like the other people. “I rarely watch the ‘Parlor Walls’ or go to races or fun parks”(7). Bradbury tells us that instead of our machinery we can just embrace life. He warns

us that technology can take over our lives.(CS): Now in 2016, we are doing many of the things that Bradbury writes about and use technology for mostly everything.

(MIP-3): Our new use of technology can change our old reality and make us feel like we are living in a television show.(SIP-A): Since people are using technology they are not interacting with others and are not being themselves.(STEWE-1): When Montag left the city he felt like he was making the right choice and also felt free.“He felt as if he had left a stage behind many actors”(133). This message from the book explains that once we take a break from technology we can think for ourselves and be more human. (STEWE-2): Montag noticed that when Mildred sleeps she has her eyes open and does not look like she is sleeping because she looks like a dead body. “His wife stretched on the bed uncovered and cold, like a body displayed on the lid of a tomb, her eyes fixed to the ceiling by invisible threads of steel, immovable. And in her ears the little seashells, the thimble radios tamped tight, and an electronic ocean of sound, of music and talk and music and talk coming in, coming in. On the shore of her unsleeping mind”(10). This information from the book tells us that people are constantly using technology and can become mindless.(SIP-B): Some people who use technology can lose some of their emotions which can lead to a reality where everyone is disengaged.(STEWE-1): Montag and Granger look into their television and see that the police killed an innocent man and called him Montag just to show their viewers that the chase has ended. “They know they can hold their audience only so long. The show’s got to have a snap ending, quick”(141). This phrase Bradbury wrote explains that people always believe that technology has the right answers when sometimes they are not even real. The police had made Montag seem like a criminal and needed to show the viewers that had they had caught the bad guy even though it was someone else.(STEWE-2): When Montag’s house was burning everyone came to watch. “The crowd drew back into the houses the great tents of the circus had slumped into the charcoal and rubble and the show was well over”(111). The crowd came to watch Montag’s house burn for entertainment, it was like a movie they could watch. The people could not imagine how he may be feeling, they just liked watching the fire. (CS) In this generation, many people do not know what is real and what is not, we need to learn a way to balance technology in our lives.

(RTS) Remember that we have high technology for the future but can isolate ourselves, take away our time, and get us confused.(BS-3) Everyone will be confused what their reality is because of technology.(BS-2)It's a waste of time and the days go by faster because we don't even notice how long were using technology.(BS-1) People won't think that they are isolated because they are busy with the technology but they are slowly isolating themselves.(R) What do you think? Is our society using the dangers of technology just like Bradbury told us?