Have you ever tried to interact with someone but they are too distracted on their phone? In Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451, he depicts a society where technology has turned into an obsession. People no longer read due to the fact that books are banned so they are constantly depending on technology to entertain themselves. This overuse of technology has created a society that lacks intelligence, thinking, socializing, time outdoors and communicating. Bradbury predicted that people in the future would spend all their time using technology and unfortunately his prediction is true and relates to our society today.
The overuse of entertainment technology has impacted relationships in the world of Fahrenheit 451 and in our world today. For example, in Fahrenheit 451, Mildred spends all her time interacting with the parlor walls and doesn’t even acknowledge that Montag is there. They do not communicate whatsoever due to all the time she spends with the parlor walls. “Will you turn the parlour off?” he asked. “That’s my family.” (Pg 52 Bradbury). Montag asks Mildred to turn off the parlour walls for once and she rejects him and says that it’s her family. According to our world today in an article called “3 ways Technology can impact your relationships”, “technology can create problems between romantic partners, potentially stirring conflict and dissatisfaction in the relationship” and “Nearly 1 in 10 had argued with a partner about excessive time spent on the devices” (goodtherapy.org staff).
Technology can impact your brain so much that you start forgetting things, in fahrenheit 451, Mildred couldn’t even remember when she and Montag met. “Can’t you remember?…It’s been so long” (Pg 46 Bradbury). Technology interferes with relationships by creating an obsession and addiction, the user ends up spending all their time on the device instead of with their partner and they stop communicating.
The overuse of technology in Fahrenheit 451 has turned people into non talking, non associating people who don’t think and have opinions of their own. “No one has time anymore for anyone else” (pg 27 Bradbury). In the story Clarisse is called “antisocial” because she likes to talk, socialize, explore nature, etc. This is ironic because in our way of thinking we would consider her social. Because of the constant technology in the faces of these citizens, normal human social behavior is considered out of the ordinary. According to an article “Technology: Is It Making Kids Antisocial”, by Morgan Hampton. Morgan states that “Today children are more dependent upon electronics and less dependent on human interaction” (Hampton). Bradbury predicted that people would be more interested in technology than human interaction and he was correct.
Most people cannot go a day without using technology. It has become an addiction, obsession and a real world wide problem. We use our tv’s, cell phones, computers, radio, etc. everyday. These devices are a necessity and a reliable source of entertainment to most of us in our daily lives just like they are to Mildred in Fahrenheit 451, “She had both ears plugged with electronic bees” (pg 16 Bradbury), “He reached over and pulled the tiny musical insect out of her ear” (pg 43 Bradbury), “Now it was in her ear again” (pg 45 Bradbury). Mildred’s ear buds are constantly in her ears.
She refuses to keep them out when her husband takes them out of her ears. In our society today, we often come across people with their earbuds in and are so occupied they won’t even acknowledge you are there, just like Mildred does to Montag. In an article “Teen Technology Addiction”, the author states that “Technology impacts the pleasure systems of the brain in ways similar to substances…technology fulfills our natural human need for stimulation, interaction, and changes in environment with great efficiency… technology can become a quick and easy way to fill basic needs, and as such, can become addictive” (Ford). Due to Mildred’s addiction to the parlor walls, it keeps her inside all day and she doesn’t often go outside. Technology is extremely addictive and prevents you from going outside and unplugging from your devices.
