Fahrenheit 451: A Review That Got Sidetracked

One of the items on my ‘list’ of things to achieve this year, is to read a bunch of classic books. I’ve selected six books I’m interested to read so far, and they sit on my bedside table, mocking me as I lie listlessly scrolling through whichever social media platform seems least offensive to me at that time. Ironic then that the book at the top of the pile is Fahrenheit 451. I was motivated to finish it recently, as its owner was visiting my house and no doubt would enquire as to my thoughts.

For those who haven’t had the privilege of reading it, the book is a dystopian tale of a society where books are banned and war rages, meanwhile no one cares about anything other than what’s on the telly. It’s an uncanny prediction of what technology has brought to our lives. Written in 1953, I’m sure every generation has had their identifying moments with this book. I read majority of this in my local park, attempting to rid myself of the technological distractions in my apartment, and couldn’t stop myself from laughing at the fact that I still stopped every few chapters to check my phone.

Hours after finishing the book, further irony ensued with a terse Facebook exchange. A friend of mine shared a post, a picture of children playing in the mud juxtaposed with a picture of teenagers using their phones while standing in a bus stop, captioned something inane like “I’m so glad my childhood was like the muddy kids”. Let alone the fact that the friend who shared it is a notorious social media addict, and grew up deep in suburbia where a muddy park would be forbidden by parents quite rightly afraid of used ice needles being amongst the detritus. A friend of the meme sharer commented “Left = Adventure, Right = Lifeless”. A ‘discussion’ ensued and another person and I argued that the teenagers in the picture with their phones are certainly no less likely to be adventurous simply because of their use of technology. Perhaps the girls were tweeting their support for #MarchForOurLives, or communicating with their parents, or just killing time waiting for a bus. Not to mention the irony that we were having this argument, via our smart phones, while standing in bus stops.

People (myself included) love to hate technology, joking that Zuckerberg will be the death of us all via Facebook status’, complaining about dick pics but never blocking the offenders on Snapchat, crying foul at clickbait while clicking and commenting about it being clickbait. We all feel disconnected, disassociated and alone. Will technology really be the death of society as we know it? Maybe. Montag struggles in Fahrenheit 451 to connect with his wife, his friends, and colleagues as all are so involved in the ‘families’ they watch on screen that real relationships no longer mean anything. I’m afraid to say that I felt a real affinity with this part of his story. For me, getting ‘likes’ and tags in posts about K-Mart does nothing to add to relationships. Seeing what friends are up to is cool, and I enjoy it, but I don’t feel any more connected to them. Probably the issue is dissatisfaction with my own relationships, and a lack of willingness to do anything about it. Therein lies the answer.

Technology isn’t inherently bad. As always, relationships are incumbent on us, and no one else. You get out what you put in, and if my level of engagement with a friend is tagging her in K-Mart memes, that’s probably what I’ll get back. Without technology I wouldn’t be able to stay so connected with my interstate family, or internationally based friends. If a friend a few kilometres away and I are struggling with our relationship, technology probably isn’t the issue. If technology is causing some other issue, I bet technology isn’t really the issue. Human nature doesn’t change that much, we just need to understand how technology fits to enhance, rather than detract.