Today, we live in a society where we use technology as a tool to make certain things in our lives easier. But what if these things are out of control? Most of us today are under the possession of a smartphone. We use it as a way to communicate, to entertain us, and to save certain memories like photographs and videos. A very useful tool to have, but has its own iceberg theory. We tend to spend so much time on our smartphones unconsciously until we check the time. The addiction from technology is taking over us, making us unaware of the surroundings that lead us to dangerous situations that affect us in physical and mental manners. The author Ray Bradbury has shown us in the stories “The Pedestrian” and “The Murderer” how technology impacts human behaviors and how it can create a society-wide addiction.
In the story “The Pedestrian”, every single person is under the possession of a TV. People are not allowed to walk after dawn and everyone is watching TV once this period of time has broken into the day showing it as an example of a society-wide addiction to television. While everyone is watching TV, the protagonist of the story allows himself to go out for a walk which is against the law in the story’s society. Realistically, taking a walk is a human right and everyone should have the right to do that freely at any time of a regular day. Due to the daily routine regulations in this story where everybody is supposed to watch television after dawn, it is not allowed and considered a crime when these rules are being trespassed. The following passage will show an example of the “extraordinary” act of taking a night walk,
“What are you doing out?” “Walking,” said Leonard Mead. “Walking!” “Just walking,” he said simply, but his face felt cold. “Walking, just walking, walking?” “Yes, sir.” “Walking where? For what?” “Walking for air. Walking to see.”
This shows us how human behaviors have changed due to a society-wide addiction which led to restrictions that made certain things like, in this case, taking a walk, seem unconventional. Another piece of passage of the text that shows this is,
“Where are you taking me?” The car hesitated, or rather gave a faint whirring click, as if information, somewhere, was dropping card by punch-slotted card under electric eyes. “To the Psychiatric Center for Research on Regressive Tendencies.”
The police are taking the protagonist under custody and bringing him to a psychiatric center that researches regressive tendencies because of the action of taking a walk after dawn. This shows that technology is impacting society by changing human behaviors. Things that used to be normal have changed and seem to be irregular and out of social standards. In conclusion, the regulations of the society in “The Pedestrian”, made it unlawful for civilians to take a step out of their property after sunset, which will later on be considered as unconventional.
The story “The Murderer” by Ray Bradbury has shown us an example of a society-wide addiction to radio transmission that has irritated a person’s life. Every person in this story communicates through radio wristbands and entertains themselves with music and podcasts coming from radio transmissions. Due to all the noise coming from all unnecessary conversations and radios, the main character in the story gets irritated by it causing him to lose control over himself and start to destroy other people’s radios. He ended up being taken into a mental health hospital where a psychiatrist is trying to understand his behaviors and feelings. One piece of evidence from the story that supports this is, “It’s easy to say the wrong thing on telephones;
“The telephone changes your meaning to you. First thing you know, you’ve made an enemy. Then, of course, the telephone’s such a convenient thing; it just sits there and demands you call someone who doesn’t want to be called. Friends were always calling, calling, calling me. Hell, I didn’t have any time of my own.”
This shows how irritating technology can be to certain people if the society-wide addiction has not reached individuals that have good self-control over themselves. Technology is taking over certain interactions and activities, making society blind to reality. The author uses setting to describe the current situation and place in the story. For example, we can see this at the beginning of the story when the psychiatrist walks into the building observing each room and corner of the current environment he’s in:
“Music moved with him in the white halls. He passed an office door: “The Merry Widow Waltz.” Another door: Afternoon of a Faun. A Third: “Kiss Me Again.” He turned into a cross-corridor: “The Sword Dance” buried him in cymbals, drums, pots, pans, knives, forks, thunder, and tin lightning. All washed away as he hurried through an anteroom where a secretary sat nicely stunned by Beethoven’s Fifth. He moved himself before her eyes like a hand; she didn’t see him.”
In conclusion, in the story “The Murderer”, we see how a society wide addiction has impacted a person’s life by irritating them with unnecessary noise throughout their daily life. It shows how technology impacts human behaviors and how it can create a society-wide addiction.
Something that about 80% of the world’s population possesses in this modern society are smartphones. While smartphones are pretty useful and fun, in many situations they lead to addiction and distraction to a certain situation that can lead to danger. It shows an example of how dangerous it is to be distracted from a certain technology while driving or crossing the road. If smartphones can be serious distractions in the workplace, they’re far worse when used while driving or crossing the road. Distracted driving is one of the main causes of road accidents, which, in turn, are among the world’s leading causes of death. The minutes spent answering calls and text messages are more than enough to cause an accident. It only takes a few seconds to figure in a collision at high speeds.
In his works “The Pedestrian” and “The Murderer,” author Ray Bradbury demonstrates how technology affects human behavior and how technology can change a society-wide addiction. The stories by Ray Bradbury have shown us his predictions of our future which are surprisingly very accurate and relatable. In the murderer, Bradbury has shown us how someone has mentally changed because of being annoyed by the noise of a technology that was almost available everywhere since it was possessed by the majority of society. And in The Pedestrian, he showed us how addictive technology can be and how this addiction can spread through society and can change a whole system creating a more anti-social living among people since everyone is focused on the television. I think this topic has not been discussed well, not just in the educational system but throughout the world and among people. I have a feeling that in the 21st century, we rely so much on technology in an unconscious way. We are aware of the usage but not aware of the amount. Technology has its good values that can make life easier but also its bad values which could make things in life or in society harder. Ray Bradbury’s story, “The Pedestrian” and “The Murderer”, has shown us how technology can change human behaviors in social life and how technology can generate a society-wide addiction.
Works Cited
Bradbury, Ray. “The Pedestrian.” Riverside Local Schools, 2002, https://www.riversidelocalschools.com/Downloads/pedestrian%20short%20story.pdf. “CDC Data Summary & Trends.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 27 Apr. 2023, www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/yrbs_data_summary_and_trends.htm.