Is The Government Listening?

            1984 by George Orwell, the story of a “Negative Utopia”, portrays an imaginary world we would never want to live in. From limited freedom to the lack of vocabulary available to use, the government, Big Brother, seems quite daunting and even scary to think of. In this negative utopia, the government is constantly listening through telescreens, something that sounds a little familiar now. Winston, the main character, experiences a somewhat rebellious side, attempting to have some control over his thoughts. He is noticeably different than the others. He acknowledges his hate for Big Brother and breaks certain “rules” yet he goes with the flow during the 2 Minutes of Hate.

         One major theme in 1984 is the idea that the government is constantly listening and watching. There is no privacy in this utopia whatsoever. This type of theme is quite strong today with the increasingly accepted belief that the government is always listening through our devices like our iPhones, Macs, and even Amazon Alexa. Although this theory hasn’t been debunked, it’s no secret that anyone can hack into your device and listen or watch you. Like the telescreens in 1984, an article on Roughly Explained discusses this issue of phone tapping and the ways other people can be listening in on your convos. Although the theory that the government is listening hasn’t been debunked or proved 100% true, at least we know there could be someone potentially listening. As stated in the article, “Even if your call isn’t picked up over the air, hackers, (foreign) governments and other bad guys could still tap your conversation using malware.” This same theme that someone is listening to your every conversation is reflected in 1984 as Winston has to deal with this in his everyday life. There is a constant breach of privacy in Winston’s life, just like these phone taps are in today’s world. Any could be listening to your convos or even watching you, moving us closer to a negative utopia that Winston dreadfully lives in.