Telescreens
The Telescreen is a symbol of constant surveillance in 1984 that has become frighteningly real in the past decade. In the novel, telescreens are in every member of the party's house, and occasionally there will be someone watching the video feed looking for thoughtcrime, but Winston is able to hide from it by simply sitting in a corner that the camera can't see. Today, there is a constant level of tracking and surveillance that can't be avoided by just hiding in a corner. Having a smartphone is practically required to be a functioning member of society, and both google and your cell carrier sell real time location data to advertisers. Every single action you take online is precisely tracked to build a detailed profile of you that can be used for personalized advertisements. Target tracks what you buy to determine of you are having a baby. I think its fair to say that we live in much more of a surveillance state than 1984.
Just because there is surveillance doesn't mean the government is using it to crack down on people who oppose their regime. Yes, much more information is generated from online traffic, but you forget that the telescreen is literally streaming live image and audio to the government at all times. At least you can mostly turn off access to camera and microphone on your smartphone.
ReplyDeleteIn most ways I'd agree this is definitely true, but 1984 goes the step further to actively stop anyone who may even be *thinking* of thought crime. Sure, Walmart and Target might be tracking my purchases, but it's unlikely that they'll call the police if I buy a knife set and some toy handcuffs at the same time.
ReplyDeleteIt definitely is very disconcerting when you suddenly have ads across everything you own for something you looked up once. The main difference lies in how it's used. Today, that information is mostly used to compile lists of our interest so that they can better gear products towards the consumer, whether we want them to or not. 1984 uses the telescreens as a way to quell rebellion, less as a very good method of doing so, but rather the idea the you could be being watched at anytime scares people into line.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea if the government is able to access any of this data, but I'm sure they have detailed profiles of all of us as well. As technology continues to improve, predicting if someone will commit a crime (based on thoughts and not-obvious Google searches alone) may happen in the future.
ReplyDeletePeople have wondered what will happen if/when the "crime gene" is discovered. Will DNA information be used against us? Any information can become misinformation, I suppose.
DeleteIt's interesting how Orwell expected surveillance to be forced on society, but that was somewhat off the mark. Instead, people in our society are perfectly willing to carry around surveillance in our pockets because of the pleasure and convenience it gives us - like in BNW, people are willing to sacrifice freedom for pleasure.
ReplyDeleteTruth.
Delete