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The spread of fake news has caused people to get confused simple everyday things.

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Social media seems to be everywhere you look. The effects of this, however, may not be as positive as many people might think. Technology and media starts affecting people pretty much since they’re born. Studies show that it affects children and adolescents the most. “Dr. Sarah Vinson, a board-certified child and adolescent psychiatrist, says that media continues to consume an ever-growing part of people’s lives. People, and young people specifically do not have the face-to-face interaction they need in order to learn social skills, and more and more children are having a difficult time interacting with others, which can lead to unsociable behavior.” (Psychology.org). Since younger kids’ minds are still developing it makes sense that they are influenced the most. Kids have a tendency to do what they see, especially if an adult is doing something, so if they see something violent or inappropriate they might assume that it’s acceptable to do that thing too. “Violence may be contagious by observational learning…” (Luskin). A prime example of kids being exposed to violence is television. Even though kids may be watching cartoons, many cartoons, particularly new ones, are getting more and more violent for humor. This may teach kids that it’s ok to be violent and that it’s actually humorous to do so. “Not all television programs are bad, but data showing the negative effects of exposure to violence, inappropriate sexuality and offensive language are convincing” (Paediatr Child Health). For adolescents the influence of media tends to be more emotional. Social media can be a great place to communicate, find new ideas, and just have fun. On the other hand though it can be a sort of trap or reliance. “Social networking sites grab us because they involve self-relevant information and bear on our social status and reputation. The greater your need to belong and be popular, and the stronger your brain’s reward centres respond to your reputation being enhanced, the more irresistible is the site’s siren song.” (McCarthy-Jones). People can become so reliant on social media that it’s the only place that they feel they can get reassurance and approval. How many likes they get on a post can make or break someone. This dependency on social media not only lowers people’s self esteem, but it also takes away the most important interaction. Face-to-face interaction with people that’ll most likely give you more reassurance than any like online.

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Several times throughout Fahrenheit 451, we hear from radios, T.V.’s, and word of mouth about negative news, such as the war that is mentioned numerous times. Even though the people in that society are hearing about these terrible things, especially something as large scale as a war, they seem to not really react or care about it. For example, as Montag is running from the police the author tells us that over a radio Montag hears, “War has been declared.” (Bradbury, pg. 119), and goes on to say, “The gas was being pumped outside. The men in the beetles were talking about engines, the gas, and money owed.” (Bradbury, pg. 119).News as big as declaring war seems like an event that would frighten people, but when this happens people in the society of Fahrenheit 451 continue about their day as if nothing had happened. This could be a result of people becoming numb to the news that they hear because they are being regularly exposed to it. However, even though people are regularly exposed to negativity some of the negative news is suppressed in order to prevent intense emotions and loss of support. When we are told about the radio saying men are being mobilized for the war Faber says, “‘Ten million men mobilized.’ Faber’s voice whispered in his other ear. ‘But say one million. It’s happier.’” (Bradbury, pg. 88). In order to keep the support of the people, and specifically the wives whose husbands are being sent into war, the society needs to make it appear as if the war isn’t actually as bad as it is. Society is manipulating people in order to make sure that their plans stay in motion without interruption.

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In Fahrenheit 451 it is apparent that the best and practically anyway to get the public’s attention is through destruction, repetition, negativity, and violence. People only appear to care when an event such as when the firemen are burning down a house. In fact, such events are the only time when we’re told that almost everyone around the event comes out of their houses to look. Another such event is when Montag takes the flamethrower from Beatty, who then says, “‘Well that’s one way to get an audience. Hold a gun on a man and force him to listen to your speech.’” (Bradbury, pg. 113). This supports the idea that people tend to watch when something intense and frightening is happening. Even though a person is being held at gunpoint all of the onlookers are captivated by the scene. It seems odd because most people wouldn’t want to watch something that could possibly end with watching someone die. Violence isn’t the only that the society gets people’s attention though. Another way is through the use of the Denham's Dentifrice commercial. While the commercial is playing when Montag is on the plane everyone else repeats the commercial over and over again, almost like a chant. This commercial could symbolize modern day ads that are encountered frequently online. People may not really pay attention to the add, but subconsciously notices it by remembering the jingle or catch phrase that goes along with the add. This subconscious effect is shown while Montag is on train. It takes all of his will power to try to block out the commercial. The society also knows that their audience will only pay attention for so long. When Montag meets the group of old men who are watching the news about Montag’s chase one of them says, “They know they can hold their audience only so long. The show’s got to have a snap ending, quick!” (Bradbury, pg. 141). In order for the news to keep their audience they go after someone else and say that he’s Montag in order to say that they caught him and end the chase. This gives their audience an end to the chase and also settles everything down since people believe that Montag was caught. This shows how the news showed the audience what they want they wanted instead of the truth. This shows that the news is more concerned with entertaining its viewers instead of informing them.

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People spend more than a quarter of their day on media on average.

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The media has the power to not only effect people, but society and the world.

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The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses.

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"The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses." - Malcolm X quotes from BrainyQuote.com

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The meida is a strong force that sometimes governs people's lives.

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"Whoever controls the media, controls the mind." - Jim Morrison quotes from BrainyQuote.com

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About half of the population uses the internet in some way throughout daily lives.

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Fake news is something that is plaguing our society. It can have very small effects or have huge effects on topics such as terrorism. When you are online looking for news or information it is important to make sure you are getting from a trusted source.

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The multiple media sources influence our everyday lives. Such media outlets include movies, social media, and magazines. The topics of these outlets can make you think certain ways without you knowing.

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Modern news and media seems to be more concerned with entertainment rather than informing. “According to Wearesocial.com more than half the world now uses a smartphone and almost two-thirds of the world’s population now has a mobile phone with the average user accessing 7 accounts (Global Web Index). The current estimated number of smartphone users in South Africa is set to reach 16.1 million with the expected reach of 22 million users by 2021 (Statista)” (Conradie). With this many people connected to the internet it seems logical to assume that people would be well informed on current events, but this is not the case. “‘Entertainment has superseded the provision of information; human interest has supplanted the public interest; measured judgement has succumbed to sensationalism.’” Franklin, B, Newszak and News Media, 1997, 4. (Davey). This is saying that people in the modern world would rather be entertained than informed. While entertainment isn’t a bad thing to have in someone’s life people are lacking the intake of news of what’s happening around the world. However, when news does slip into people’s feeds it has a tendency to be about a terrible event or crime. This exposure of constant negative news causes people to become numb to the things happening in the world. “Violence in media causes desensitization to violence.” (Luskin). This numbing causes most of society to not really care about what they just saw unless it directly affects them. It has created a society in which people are primarily concerned with themselves and the people close to them and try to avoid the rest of the world to avoid the cruelties that are within it.

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Throughout Fahrenheit 451 there are multiple instances where information had been altered in order to make the public believe in events that didn’t actually happen. The most common example of this is in reference to the history of firefighters. For example, Beatty tells Guy Montag about the history of firefighting and says, “Established, 1790, to burn English-influenced books in the colonies. First Fireman: Benjamin Franklin.” (Bradbury, pg. 32). This quote shows how even things as important as history have been manipulated to make society believe that books have been viewed as bad and need to be burned all the way back to the 1700’s. This change in history not only establishes a strong belief that books are negative, but also means that children are being taught this at school. Since this fake information is being ingrained into people’s minds at a young, developing age people will know nothing about the truth and only believe the lies that they’re being taught. Fake news is also used for more than manipulating history in Fahrenheit 451. It is also used in multiple instances in order to justify society’s actions, such as burning books. As Montag is talking to Clarisse in the beginning he tells her, “No. Houses have always been fireproof, take my word for it.” (Bradbury, pg. 6). In the modern world this statement would seem absurd and be incorrect, but for the people in the world of Fahrenheit 451 firefighters putting out fires seems absurd to them. This simple statement shows just how powerful fake information has become their world. It has caused people to forget the actual job of a fireman and take on an entirely new position where people won’t question what they’re doing because it’s all they know.

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Nowadays fake news seems to be a prevalent part of the current media. Fake news is used in a multitude of ways and can have pretty profound results. A very popular topic for fake news is its use in politics. Probably one of the most common sources for this is Facebook. “Facebook has a permanent role in politics.”(Bryfonski, Contents). One such example is the 2016 presidential election. People’s news feeds were full of articles about Trump and Clinton. However, those feeds were also designed to make people who seemed more supportive of one candidate see good things about who they were voting for and negative things about the other. This also included fake news about the opposition. The New York Times said, “Pro-Trump users were about three times more likely to visit fake news sites supporting their candidate than Clinton partisans were to visit bogus sites promoting her.” (Carey). This is a prime example of how fake news is used to manipulate people’s decisions. Even though voting for president is supposed to be a personal decision based on one’s own ideals, ads and articles are used to influence people’s bias towards one view. In relation to elections fake news is used to influence people’s behavior and thoughts. “Social media can be used to spread hatred.” (Bryfonski, Contents). Even if someone supports a certain topic or person or knows nothing about it one article with false information can entirely change someone’s outlook. Even though that person may have liked the topic if they read something contradictory to their ideology it might cause them to despise the topic now. The influence that fake news has on society can be profound and even devastating if it’s intense enough. This is something that society needs to get control of and filtered out of people’s news.

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Fahrenheit 451 depicts a world in which fake news and the media have a certain control over society to a point where people’s actions are influenced by media, and, as shown by new research and continuing trends, current American society appears to be on a path to the fictional dystopia that Ray Bradbury has created.