Genre 1: Orienting to the central question
In exploring Fahrenheit 451 with I will be focusing on the question “what are the effects of social media on life and society?” This question will be broad enough to encompass the many media and medium-based themes present in Ray Bradbury’s dystopian novel, while also narrow enough to help students focus the application of our discussions into an increasingly dominant aspect of modern life. The texts and resources provided here will help us orient the question of social media usage to current events, other texts, and research in using 451 as a jumping off point for rich and meaningful discussions.
In grounding our discussion, it may be best to begin with examining what current and historical events highlight the importance of the central question. Most recently, and perhaps most obviously, is the rise of what has been called “fake news,” particularly online. The rapid spread of misinformation and hoaxes on social media platforms took on a new and more dangerous dimension than ever before, with misinformation circulated on a daily basis. It would appear that nation-states, such as Russia, are even using social media as an avenue for undermining democracy (Carey, New York Times).
The 24-hour news cycle took on a new dominance, as social media became a platform for controversies and fake news to rapidly take over social discourse. At the same time, resistance movements, such as Black Lives Matter, have also used social media as a vehicle to organize protests and to project their message beyond their own more contained social spheres. As social media is increasingly an engine for social change and broader cultural engagement, it is important that students learn to critically examine their own social media habits, to consider how they can use social media and how to interpret and consider the information provided to them in an almost constant stream.
In light of the broader societal and political implications of current events, and the ever-present threat of governments utilizing technology and means of communication to attempt to shape public opinion, George Orwell’s 1984 and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World are natural pieces of fiction to hold in relationship to 451. Not only do they share the same dystopic subgenre of science fiction as Bradbury’s work, but they highlight the ways that connections to what is considered physical and factual reality are thrown into doubt and severed via state-controlled media and propaganda. Both books relate naturally to Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death, which directs us to the ways in which media can have a pacifying effect on individuals and society. Postman’s positing of “the medium as metaphor” draws our attention as to whether or not mediums shift the type of knowledge that a society is able to process, interacting well with Bradbury’s emphasis on how mediums of information shape Montag’s thought processes. These books pair well with George Lucas’s dystopian film THX 1138, which explores how particular forms, shapes, and motions of knowledge are limited and controlled in a future dystopian society that echoes Bradbury’s.
Young Adult novels can also prove a fruitful ground for preparing to have discussions on how social media shapes engagement with society. The Hunger Games trilogy of both books and films, though they do not directly deal with social media, can prompt discussions on “real” events positioned as “entertainment,” (reality television being one such example). This highlights social media’s sometimes ambiguous positioning as both entertainment medium and a conveyer of experiences accepted as “real.” Further exploring science fiction can lead into discussions on social media, as one book incorporating virtual reality and the blurring of the lines between physical reality and digital spaces could be Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card which, like 451, explores the violent (and in this case genocidal) actions hidden behind virtual structures. Approaching social media from these more indirect angles can help widen the conversation beyond an overly simplified “good or bad” dichotomy.
An excerpt from an upcoming book by Jean M. Twenge on Generation Z, “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?”, recently published in The Atlantic explores the ways that the social lives of the next generation of young people are shifting because of the early introduction of smartphones into their lives. In considering how young people are venturing beyond their homes and interacting face to face less, while also being subject to increasing rates of depression and mental health issues, we can consider these trends in light of Mildred’s attempted suicide and addiction to communal-telescreens in 451. A further scholarly resource on modern social media trends is an exhaustive study conducted in the book How the World Changed: Social Media. Sociological research and analysis within this text is useful for framing and understanding the issue, while particular chapters, such as “Does social media make people happier?” are uniquely relevant for discussing themes in Bradbury’s novel. The issues of happiness addressed in this research intersect nicely with the stated purpose of book-burning and media distraction in Fahrenheit 451: to maintain happiness among the populace. With this research in mind, we are prompted not only to examine whether we gain “happiness” from our social media usage, but also challenged to define our own personal definition of happiness, and how we might participate in or refrain from social media in order to pursue that happiness.
Another helpful piece is an analysis of social media’s role in the 2016 election, spreading what has been called “fake news,” by Hunt Allcott and Matthew Gentzkow in “Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election.” This analysis of the spreading of false information, for reasons both economic and ideological, draws our attention to questions of medium. Though we often absorb information on social media as if it is unmediated and purely presented to us, we must recognize the economic and algorithmic elements involved in social media. Users are not receiving pure information and content from those they follow, but rather particularly tailored streams that echo their own preferences and are structured by advertising companies. Broadening our discussion to the shifting and evolving world of political propaganda may be helpful here, contrasting propaganda in regimes such as Nazi Germany (where one state-defined message goes out to all) to propaganda in the social media age (where propaganda is tailored to the individual based on algorithms). Centering all these discussions is the question of social media’s effects on individuals and society, and being at least aware of these sources can help discussions broaden beyond simply judging time on a screen as good or bad, and instead help a class thoughtfully engage with how different forms of social media and information shape us.
References
Allcott, Hunter, Matthew Gentzkow. “Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election.”The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 31.2 (Spring 2017), pp. 211-235. JSTOR. Web. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44235006
Card, Orson Scott. Ender’s Game. Tor Books: 2013. Print.
Carey, Benedict. “How Fiction Becomes Fact on Social Media.” The New York Times, 20 October 2017. Web. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/20/health/social-media-fake-news.html
Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. Scholastic: 2008. Print.
Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World and Brave New World Revisited. Harper Perennial: 2004. Print.
Lucas, George. THX 1138: The George Lucas Director’s Cut. Warner Bros: 2004. Film.
Miller, Daniel, Elisabetta Costa, Nell Haynes, Tom McDonald, Razvan Nicolescu, Jolynna Sinanan, Juliano Spyer, Shriram
Venkatraman and Xinyuan Wang. How the World Changed: Social Media. UCL Press: 2016. “Does social media make people happier?” pp. 193-204. JSTOR. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1g69z35.20
Orwell, George. 1984. Signet Classics: 1950. Print.
Postman, Neil. Amusing Ourselves to Death:Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. Penguin: 2005. Print.
Twenge, Jean M. “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?” The Atlantic, September 2017. Web. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198/