Big Brother is watching

I’ve been thinking a little more on our topic from last week concerning social media, and how we can translate our reality into literature. What are the concerns of our Digital Age and how do we see that within texts? 

One that stands out for me is how worried we are about surveillance and monitoring especially around our online presence. I’m sure you remember the online jokes and memes concerning covering your webcam when not in use so your Government agent can’t see you. Or the whole situation with spyware embedded into our devices, such as Alexa, iPhones and Google. It makes me consider George Orwell’s 1984.

I’m particularly reminded of how screens are used to spy on the people of Oceania. Sounds awfully similar doesn’t it. Yet, spyware and surveillance, atleast to the degree we know it today, was not as developed as portrayed in 1984, when Orwell was writing in 1948. Did Orwell predict this development? Are we truly living in an Orwellian Dystopian? 

Scary stuff, but I think with any concerns we have of reality we should consider how those are portrayed within Literature. Literature is after all reflective of life itself.