Period 6: Are we living in 1984? by Maria Zipperer

mzippere — 2024-04-05 01:17:09 UTC

Facebook, and many corporate companies spy on us. They sell data they collect about us to each other; data like our address, credit score, relatives, and income. But it gets creepier. From our online activity, they also infer other data like our sexual orientation, political beliefs, personality traits, relationship status, drug use, and other information.

In Chapter 1 of Nineteen Eighty-Four, Winston states: "It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away." This captures the insecurity I have as an individual who is constantly being monitored online and we must use online technology to participate in society as a consumer, student, and individual and so I feel like we don't have much individual choice.

2024-04-05 22:57:09 UTC

MASEN MAHE-The main connection I make with 1984 and the real world is how much the media controls peoples thinking. For Example, paragraph 2 in the article states, "But for every article about Facebook’s creepy stalker behavior, thousands of other companies are breathing a collective sigh of relief that it’s Facebook and not them in the spotlight. Because while Facebook is one of the biggest players in this space, there are thousands of other companies that spy on and manipulate us for profit." (https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/26/opinions/data-company-spying-opinion-schneier/index.html)

2024-04-05 22:58:01 UTC

Daniel Aceituno-I feel that we are living in a world with some similarities as 1984 with how we always have something or someone listening in on us, Social media can be listening to give you recommendation on what it seems you are interested in. You can also see that some forms of government already have the same type of government as 1984, North Korea is a great example because they are all forced to love their country, they aren't allowed to say anything bad about their leader or they can be punished. If anyone tries to speak out they can be tortured or killed.

2024-04-05 23:00:55 UTC

One way we could be living in a similar world to 1984 is the use of modern surveillance technology by the government. Today every street corner has a camera, almost your every movement is monitored. Even the telescreen has basically been replicated. The modern phone has a microphone and a camera built into it which Apple, Samsung, or any other phone company can tap into at any time. Siri is always listening to you waiting for you to say "Hey Siri." Google monitors your search history and what websites you visit to build a database on you. It typically includes your gender, sexual orientation, interests, even where you live. Nothing you do is truly anonymous nowadays - Joshua Lopez

2024-04-05 23:05:40 UTC

JADA DAVIS- I feel like in the book 1984, there is still some of that type of stuff happening in the real world now. i feel like with social media, it's still the same way with social media controlling someone's life or someone believing what someone or what a post says. when it comes to anyone walking home or a minor walking home from school there are always cameras everywhere. anyone can get hurt just by looking something up or talking to someone online that you don't know.

duranj58608 — 2024-04-05 23:08:15 UTC

I feel as if we have some similarity's with 1984 with how we are being watched and our data are being sold by apps such as Instagram Tiktok and Facebook while in the novel 1984 there are cameras in his TV and could be on any wire. theirs also a lot of posters around saying "Big Brother is Watching" this is similar to "I want you" poster with uncle Sam on it

2024-04-05 23:10:10 UTC

Hailey Elrod-

A thing we see in life today is fabricated news. Many different news stations say different things and they can twist the story or even make something completely fake. Journalists twist things or dramatize them to make people want to read them aka propaganda. They dramatize what happened between Goldstein and big brother, they make it seem bad and they make everyone hate him so they dont realise the truth. The news can redirect your thoughts in the same way. People are followers and if you make one person hate something or believe its true others will join in. On page 16 he says, "The horrible thing about the two mins. hate was not obliged to act a part, but that it was impossible to avoid joining in."

2024-04-05 23:10:57 UTC

Brittney V- I do think we live in a similar world. Though not as extreme, there's a lot of proof of social medias spying on us and being able to sell off our info without permission which reminds me a lot of the way Big Brother spies on his people. We are also expected to be okay with appearing in peoples posted videos or being recorded by others, for example I've seen numerous TikTok's of people considered being weird in public (when they are usually just being themselves) and I think its insane that we need to learn to be okay with it and normalize it.

2024-04-05 23:11:27 UTC

(Anabell Sanford) Something that makes us similar to the dystopian world of 1984 is the technoligy spies. On social media, google, anything online or internet related is spying on us. Whether its to help sugest things for us or to gather information we are still being spied on. They can track your digital footprint and all your data, they can put anything on your social media feed, even things you wouldnt want to see. Theres now a bunch of death, activities, people or just things you dont want see being forced onto your social media or tv new channel.

garciaa08708 — 2024-04-05 23:12:47 UTC

Ashlee Garcia- With new advancements in technology we are losing our self identity without us knowing. Our data is getting collected every time we go on the internet. In the article it states, "The eerie loss of individuality is looming right before your screen every time you passively press “accept” on a new privacy policy and turn a blind eye to why your data is being collected." This proves we are in a dystopian society without us fully knowing.

"He did not know what had made him pour out this stream of rubbish." (Pg.8) When writing in his diary, Winston couldn't understand why he felt like this and had to write it down. He knew in a way that he couldn't have his own opinion.

2024-04-05 23:13:34 UTC

I think that even though we aren't exactly living in 1984, other countries are. For instance North Korea has very strict laws. They are not allowed to show affection to anyone other than the president of the country, just like how the people in 1984 aren't allowed to. They also are not allowed to know any knowledge about the outside world, nor are they allowed to contact people from the outside world. If they are disloyal to their leader it is punishable by death. So even though we are not exactly living in the same world as 1984, there are a lot of similarities between the two. - Abdeep Deol

2024-04-05 23:13:46 UTC

I believe that society is becoming similar to the dystopian world depicted in "1984". One of the main reasons is the increasing surveillance and control of information in today's world. In the novel, the Party in power watches every action of its citizens through "Big Brother", a symbol of constant surveillance. This is similar to the widespread use of surveillance technology and data collection in today's society. Another reason is the loss of individuality, which is portrayed in the novel through the Party's efforts to suppress independent thought and individual identity. This is mirrored in today's society through the dominance of social media and the pressure to conform to societal norms. Finally, the manipulation of language, or "newspeak", is another element of the novel that parallels today's society. The Party in "1984" uses Newspeak to control and manipulate the thoughts of its citizens, similar to how meaningless phrases like "War on Terror" are used in today's society to manipulate public opinion.

leea88808 — 2024-04-05 23:14:17 UTC

Some similarities between 1984 and our world is the banning of books, media surveillance, and propaganda to help the government look better. In the state of Florida, many LGBTQ+ books are being banned, and are restricting books that tend to go against what they want or believe. Like in 1984, books are banned and are removed from peoples homes entirely because the government doesn't want people reading them because they could form their own thoughts or go against the government because of what they read.

There is also the propaganda being put out to try and sway the person looking at it. In our world, if someone wants to put anything about the U.S. army in their work, they have to get approval from the U.S. army and they have to make them look good so people will love and trust the army and hate the other army. In 1984, the propaganda is from the government, and is used to make people love Big Brother and hate Goldstein. https://people.southwestern.edu/~bednarb/su_netWorks/projects/pollreisz/army.html

2024-04-05 23:15:24 UTC

Justin Perea- An example I can think of that we might be living in a similar world to 1984 is when google always makes ads targeted towards you but you never searched something and that they always have your data. This is like 1984 where they're always being monitored and everything you say is always being heard and they know everything about their lives.

edmondj04007 — 2024-04-05 23:15:25 UTC

No ,but yes this maybe a warning I think it getting there watching our every move,they watch everything we do.This can also relate to China,Russia, and North Korea.They are constantly being watched and observed with there every move and then they will get in trouble if they say anything about whats they know about what they can see. Recently, Tik Tok was going to get banned because the Japaneses were spying on us. s in them getting recorded and getting made fun of and things like that.

2024-04-05 23:15:26 UTC

Kirolos Tadros - a way we are living in a society like the one is 1984 is social media spying. You could be looking at something on one app and then switch apps, and the same thing will be shown to you. Sometimes, you could be talking about something in person and you open your phone to see an ad for the exact thing. This is even worse because that means they are actively listening through your phone. This is similar to how big brother spies on everyone in his society.

2024-04-05 23:15:27 UTC

Today, I believe we are living in a world where we are being spied on. Just like the novel 1984. Our phones are listening to us most of the time. They are programmed to hear our conversation to relate our conversation to some type of advertisement to get us to believe that or buy something. Often search engines like Siri or Google are programmed to listen to our conversations, and they also track our activities. This can make us feel violated our privacy. On page 6 of 1984 Winston says "The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that would be picked up by it." - Mariana Fernandez

2024-04-05 23:15:28 UTC

Natalie Hernandez-With the concept of social media, could cause us to live in a similar world as 1984. Once someone starts a rumor and puts it on the internet, everyone is gonna see it and it can cause danger to anyone. Life now is still similar to 1984, when someone is trying to control a certain thing, they are gonna do anything in theyre power to get people to follow ad do the samething as everyone else. Social Media can cause major issues.

2024-04-05 23:15:33 UTC

Nicole Garcia-I believe that there are things that are mentioned in the book 1984 that are still present today. North Korea is a country who is in a very controlled state. There are propaganda posters from North Korea thta depict South Koreans getting crushed by a tank and many posters saying to destroy U.S. imperialism. This reminds me of the propaganda from the book saying War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, and Ignorance is Strength.

2024-04-05 23:17:28 UTC

Robert Luna-We might be living in a similar world that exist in 1984 would be our technology nowadays.This is because in 1984, it explains how the tv's are placed in a strategic way so that they can watch and share party propaganda.Like in all our phones, computers, alexa's; and googles are listening, tracking, and watching us.