1984 Technology

Over the years, technology has become a huge part of human life and is ever evolving and advancing. With its development, however, emerge many contradictory views on technology in general; there will always be those who believe that technology is a benefit to our lives and those that believe technology is tearing apart our society. George Orwell, in particular, viewed technology as a dangerous and grim disadvantage to common life, though in many ways it is possible to see how interested he was in how it would affect the future. Technology plays a huge role in the novel 1984, as Orwell makes predictions of the impacts technology will have on everyday life in that specific year. In 1984, George Orwell portrays a dystopian future as a warning

These actions of modifying documents are also achieved by the use of a technological object called a ‘Speakwrite.’ In the novel, Orwell comes up with the idea of objects called ‘memory holes’ which are essentially chutes in the wall that carry documents to a large incinerator to censor information and remnants of the past. All unpermitted documents and photographs, as well as waste paper, are sent through these holes to be destroyed. “This last was for the disposal of waste paper. Similar slits existed in thousands or tens of thousands throughout the building, not only in every room but at short intervals in every corridor. For some reason they were nicknamed memory holes. When one knew that any document was due for destruction, or even when one saw a scrap of waste paper lying about, it was an automatic action to lift the flap of the nearest memory hole and drop it in, whereupon it would be whirled away on a current of warm air to the enormous furnaces which were hidden somewhere in the recesses of the building.” These memory holes are placed all over Oceania, and are the technological equivalent of a dustbin. The main point of

The most common of these models is what is called a ‘telescreen’. The telescreen is used as a form of entertainment for the people, on which people can watch shows and news, but it is also used as a form of surveillance for the party. They are found almost everywhere, even in people’s homes, with the sole purpose of monitoring people’s actions and speech through a camera and microphone in the system. “The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it; moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard. There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever the wanted to. You had to live – did live, from habit that became instinct – in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized.” In this passage, Orwell describes how it would be to live in his dystopian idea of 1984, where everything you do can be seen by someone else, and where you never know