Recently, I’ve seen many news in the title “Big Brother Coming True”. Followed by the improvement of technology, this world is becoming a more and more information-based society. Technology has made people’s lives easier by providing an easier way to share or integrate information. However, this also means that technology can allow a particular leader to have authority when everything is grouped with information. While I was reading the book 1984, I figured out that some of the ideas that were shown in the book are currently happening, or has a possibility to occur in the future. For a better understanding, I found some real examples which already took place that have similar ideas to the society in 1984 and made predictions about the future based on the current circumstances.
Even though we don’t have a direct telescreen, we still share our personal information and allow others to see what we are doing. For example, in July 2017, the news was reported that an IT Company in Wisconsin decided to implant microchips into employee’s hands. This chip records the time when the workers enter or leave the office, and it helps them log in to the official computers without an identification card. It records personal health information, and it also helps them to make purchases. (Chiu Maria, Wisconsin Company Offers Microchip Implants to Employees, 3 Aug. 2017, 1) The chip allows people to see their personal information whenever they use them. In China, the government placed facial recognition cameras on every street so that they can help officers in criminal cases. “The
the camera can recognize a vehicle and its license plate. It also has the ability to show each person’s personal information, such as age, gender, and the color of their clothing when you click a person shown on the screen.” (Mailonline Tiffany Lo For, Big Brother Is Watching You! 26 Sep. 2017, 6) Another example happened during the previous American president’s election when Trump requested a company called Cambridge Analytica to analyze voters. “It won’t be a problem if they only used the information from the people who joined the personality analyzing app posted on Facebook by this company. However, followed by the accuser, the information of the people who are friends who joined the app also transferred to the company, and then transferred to Trump’s base camp. The Trump Camp used these political propensities to plan out the election.”(Sherr Ian, Facebook, Cambridge Analytica, Data Mining and Trump: What You Need to Know, 19 April 2018, 3) Talking about, these apps also have the idea of the telescreen. For example, people use the app “Instagram” or “Facebook” to show their personal information such as where they go or their personal appearance. Even when people try to use Wi-Fi, they fill out their information and agree to “personal information collection”. I can say this represents doublethink because even though people don’t want their personal information to be spilled out, they share their information through different kinds of apps. Another thing is Newspeak. Followed to some research, the usage of emojis is increasing over time. (Peham, Thomas. “A Case Study on How Emojis Are Used in Bug Reports, 9 Aug. 2016, 4)
There are harsh limits on what you can say with pictures. The written word is infinitely more adaptable than emoticons.” (Jonathan Jones, Emoji is dragging us back to the dark ages), (Jones Jonathan, Emoji Is Dragging Us Back to the Dark Ages, 27 May. 2015, 5) The emoji blocks the frontal lobe to express our thoughts and feelings in words. This new type of communication can surely result in decreasing words and vocabulary.
From what I’ve researched, I think there will be more recognition of propensities, especially in the marketplace. I think the market owners will try to earn more money by recording or analyzing each customer’s favorites and recommending them so that they can easily get a good response from consumers. This is like the telescreen. Your information is transferred to someone else. Also, as the usage of the internet increases, there will be a decrease in languages. It’s likely to become unified into the most important or popular language such as English or Chinese. I think if the languages are unified, country borders won’t become as important in the future. If borders become unimportant, there will be confusion between countries and their relations. In the book, there was confusion between countries that were at war with Oceania. If things like China’s mini version of the telescreen increase, it will make it easy for rulers to control people when all their information is nicely organized for the government to see on display. I think this system will be the shortcut to making a Big Brother in our society.
There could be many reasons why 1984’s society is coming true, but I think mainly it’s because technology is improving. Technology allowed an increase in the usage of the internet. This allowed people to communicate information in different ways. Some people want to use this to control other people. I also think today’s education is another problem. Most educations that make students memorize information don’t improve their logical skills. When they become adults, they cannot judge whether their information is being invaded or not, or whether their rights are kept or not.
I guess sometimes good improvements bring bad effects. It’s necessary that people have to choose what to gain and what to lose, but I think it will cause problems for human dignity if the usage of technology increases without any ceasing. As I researched, I was shocked that many of the ideas in the book were already in our society. I think it’s our role to use this helpful technology wisely so that Big Brother will not dominate this world.
Writer: Amy Jeong
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